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THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

AND OTHER SERMONS 



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HE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 
AND OTHER SERMONS 



ROBERT STUART MacARTHUR 



/ think I understand somewhat of human nature, and I 
tell you . . . that Jesus Christ was more than 
man. ^Alexander, Ccesar, Charlemagne, and 
myself, founded great empires ; hut upon what 
did the creations of our genius depend ? Upon 
force. Jesus alone founded his empire upon love, 
and to this very day millions would die for him. 

— CNiapoleon Bonaparte 



Philadelphia 

Bmerican JSaptist iPublication Society 

MDCCCXCVni 



^f^d COPY, 
1898, 




TWO COPIES RECElVED^ 






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6167 



Copyright 1898 by the 
American Baptist Publication Society 






jprom tbe Societ^e's own ipress 



PREFACE 



Most of the sermons contained in this volume 
were preached in the Calvary Baptist Church, New 
York, on consecutive Sunday mornings during the 
last few months. The discourses preached on 
Sunday evenings during the same period, and 
during a few additional months, will be published 
under the title, " Sunday Night Lectures on the 
Land and the Book." 

It is the sincere desire and prayer of the au- 
thor that all readers may experience the power of 
"The Attractive Christ," and may at last rejoice 
in "The Beatific Vision" of the King in his 

beauty. 

ROBERT STUART MacARTHUR. 

Calvary Study, Jan., 1898. 



CONTENTS 

SERMON PAGE 

I. The Attractive Christ 9 

II. The Healing Lord . 27 

III. The Divine Trustee 41 

IV. The Sanctifying Truth 57 

V. The Burning Bush 73 

VI. The Allotted Task 89 

VII. The Comprehensive Desire 103 

VIII. The Manifold Keeping 119 

IX. The Greater Works 135 

X. The Everlasting Arms 151 

XI. The Masticated Word 167 

XII. The Wonderful Engraving 183 

XIII. The Instructive Eagle 201 

XIV. The Righteous Garments 219 

XV. The Intrepid Statesman 235 

XVI. The Royal Penitent 251 

XVII. The Practical Thinker 267 

XVIII. The Empty Tomb 281, 

XIX. The Fulfilled Pentecost 297 

XX. The Beatific Vision 313 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 



Ajid I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me. — fohn 12 : J2. 



JESUS CHRIST is the most attractive Personage 
the world has ever known. This truth was 
clearly indicated even at the dawn of human his- 
story. He is the Shiloh in Genesis ; the I Am in 
Exodus ; and the Star and Sceptre in Numbers. 
In Deuteronomy he is our Rock ; in Joshua he is 
the Captain of the Lord's Host ; and in Job he is 
the Redeemer. He was David's Shepherd and 
Lord ; and in the Song of Solomon he is the Be- 
loved. In Isaiah he is the Wonderful, Counsellor, 
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the 
Prince of Peace. In Jeremiah, he is the Lord our 
Righteousness ; in Daniel he is the Messiah ; in 
Zechariah he is the Branch ; and in Haggai he is 
the Desire of all nations. In Malachi he is the 
Messenger of the Covenant and the Sun of Right- 
eousness. He is John the Baptist's Lamb of God, 
and John the Evangelist's Vine, Way, Truth, Life, 
Light. The Apostle Peter speaks of him as the 
Shepherd and Bishop of souls ; and in the book of 
Revelation he is the Alpha and Omega, and also 
the Morning Star. These are but a few of the 
attractive titles applied to Christ on the page of 
inspiration. He was the world's desire as indicated 
by the longing and hoping of the world's greatest 
thinkers. He was the perfect man of Plato's ideal 

II 



12 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

conception. He was the dream of poets, the hope 
of philosophers, and the inspiration of painters 
and sculptors. He is our hope in life, our support 
in death, and he will be the theme of our tri- 
umphant song in eternity, when we shall crown 
him with many crowns. At the time in his earthly 
life to which our text refers, he proved his attract- 
iveness in a remarkable way. Much is said in our 
day as to the importance of securing preachers 
and pastors who can ''draw" ; but no pulpit can 
truly have drawing power except Christ be uplifted 
therein. 

There has been considerable difference of opinion 
as to the time in our Lord's life when the words 
of the text were spoken. Some affirm that the 
visit of the Greeks took place on the day of our 
Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and others 
that it was later in the Passion week. The visitors 
were not Hellenistic Jews. There is reason to 
believe that they were Gentiles who had become 
proselytes to righteousness ; and these are distin- 
guished from proselytes of the gate. Even heathen 
writers mention the fact that so many Gentiles 
had adopted parts of the Jewish worship that Juda- 
ism was extended through all parts of the civil- 
ized world. 

These men came to Philip. Philip hesitates at 
once to present them to Christ. He therefore 
tells his friend Andrew, and they together impart 
to Christ the desire expressed by the Greeks. In 
the approach of these Gentiles, who were hunger- 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 1 3 

ing after salvation, Christ sees the first-fruits of 
the great harvest which would be reaped after his 
crucifixion and ascension. He sees now the great 
possibiHties which are soon to be secured when 
his gospel shall have been preached to all nations. 
Stier has said : *' These men from the West at the 
end of the life of Jesus, set forth the same as the 
magi from the East at its beginning ; but they 
came to the cross of the King, as those to his 
cradle." 

Our Lord in the text shows how the grand con- 
summation to be brought about by the preaching 
of his gospel is to be accomplished. Satan is to 
be cast out of the realm where he had so long 
reigned, and Christ is to be triumphant as the 
ruler over the hearts of men. Only as the corn 
of wheat falls into the ground and dies, can it, by 
a fundamental law of nature, bring forth much 
fruit. Not otherwise is it with Christ himself. 
He must give his life as a vicarious sacrifice that 
his gospel may be preached and that many may 
be saved. A similar law applies to the life and 
work of all his disciples ; only as they die to the 
lower life can they live for the higher and diviner 
life. Already our Lord's soul is passing into the 
darkness of the last terrible struggle. But in the 
midst of this unspeakable sorrow there comes a 
voice from heaven assuring him that the name of 
God would be glorified again as it had been glori- 
fied in his obedience in the past. At his baptism 
the heavenly voice came, giving him cheer and in- 



14 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

spiration ; on the mount of Transfiguration the 
voice of the Father again was heard, expressing 
his pleasure in the obedience of the beloved Son ; 
and now, as another stage in his earthly career is 
begun, that same voice is once more and for the 
third time heard. The great crisis in the history 
of the race is at hand. Our Lord sees the triumphs 
of his completed work. He is to be recognized as 
king when the rebel empire is overthrown. His 
soul is lifted up from its sorrowful depths to heights 
of ecstatic joy. He appears before us in the 
wonderful attractiveness of his vicarious work as 
the substitute for sinners, and as the triumphant 
king of glory, who opens the kingdom of heaven 
to all believers. Let us learn the characteristics of 
the wonderful drawing here described, the elements 
of Christ's attractiveness when he is lifted up to 
the cross and to the throne. 

I. This is a personal drawing. Christ draws all 
men and draws all men unto himself. It is re- 
markable when we pause to reflect on the subhme 
egotism found here, and so often elsewhere in the 
life of our Lord. No other than he might so use 
the first personal pronoun ; there is no sense of 
unfitness in his use of that pronoun. He is con- 
scious of imperial power as he utters these words ; 
and we seem to be conscious of his absolute right 
to the possession of that power and to the utter- 
ance of this form of speech. There is a kingly 
majesty in our Lord's words, even when spoken in 
the lowliest place which he occupied when upon 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST I 5 

earth. There is no feeling of incongruity on our 
part between the words which he uttered and the 
character which he possessed. We feel that one 
living the life he lived rightfully might speak the 
words which he employed. There is here an 
almost unconscious argument on his part for his 
full, his absolute, and glorious divinity. Were a 
mere man to speak as did he, he would prove him- 
self to be hopelessly insane. Such a thought, 
however, never occurs to us when we are studying 
the sublime and divine egotism of the Son of God. 
This consciousness of imperial dignity and this em- 
ployment of kingly speech belong by divine right 
to the Son of God. We read the messages of 
kings and queens in our own day as they address 
their parliaments, and their use of the first per- 
sonal pronoun in speaking of armies, navies, par- 
liaments, and foreign courts may create a smile ; 
but we recognize the conventional appropriateness 
of their language when we consider the theory of 
their governments. But in listening to the ego- 
tism of Jesus Christ we feel at once that it is not 
egotism in the ordinary acceptation of the term, 
but the appropriate language of him whose ex- 
alted mission and character gave him a divine 
right so to speak. His language is the more 
striking when we reflect that he was the captain 
of our salvation without an army or a soldier, and 
the king of glory without a courtier, and that he 
was now marching in sublime self-sacrifice to the 
cross to die for the world's redemption. It is true 



1 6 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

that elsewhere the evangelist John speaks of this 
drawing power as possessed by the Father alone, 
but here it is ascribed to the Son. Before the 
glorification of the Son this special divine work 
was attributed to the Father, but after that glorifi- 
cation the Son himself draws to himself. There 
is this co-working between the Father and the 
Son; there is prominence given now to the act 
of the one and now to the act of the other. 

2. We observe f alsOy that this is conditional draw- 
ing. We are not, however, to suppose that our 
word '*if " expresses here any doubt or uncertainty 
that Christ should be lifted up from the earth. 
The word is elsewhere used to signify certainty 
rather than doubt. What is the real meaning of 
the words, "be lifted up".^ We are quite sure 
that they represent our Lord's being lifted up on 
the cross. All doubt on that point is removed by 
the language of the verse following the text: 
"This he said, signifying what death he should 
die." This is the primary meaning of the language 
here used by Christ. He was lifted on the cross 
as a spectacle to men and angels. He hung 
thereon between earth and heaven, as if unworthy 
of both. Christ's cross was in a real sense his 
throne of power. He sways a sceptre to-day of 
spiritual dominion over men because once he died 
on the cross, the vicarious sacrifice for the sin of 
the world. His enemies supposed that when they 
lifted him to the cross they had forever destroyed 
his power as their foe and his influence as the 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST I 7 

Redeemer of men. The cross is still a mighty 
attraction. Men who die for their country or for 
their race, live again as mighty forces in com- 
manding the world's affection and reverence. 
Never did Satan commit a greater blunder than 
when he led to the betrayal and crucifixion of 
Jesus Christ. Satan over-stepped the limits of 
wisdom and proved that though he is knowing he 
is not omniscient, and although he is powerful he 
is not omnipotent. 

But our Lord's thought passes from the cross and 
goes up to the throne. He realizes so fully his 
promotion to the right hand of God that he in- 
cludes both forms of exaltation in the words here 
employed. His elevation to the cross was but one 
step in his exaltation to the throne. In the won- 
derful description given us by the Apostle Paul in 
the second chapter of Philippians, he traces our 
Lord's descent from the throne of equality with 
God to his death upon the cross. He then begins 
the glorious ascent until he sees the Crucified One 
exalted above all principalities and powers and 
bearing a name which is above every name. He 
also sees all things in heaven and in earth and 
under the earth bowing at the name of the cruci- 
fied and glorified Christ, and he hears every tongue 
confessing that he is Lord to the glory of God the 
Father. The cross was inseparable in the life of 
Christ from the crown and the throne. In a real 
sense this is true in the life of all his followers. 
They, as truly as he, must bear the cross if they 



1 8 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

are to wear the crown. The Holy Spirit came as 
Christ's ascension gift ; he was to take the things 
of Christ and to show them unto men. But for 
the ascension and enthronement of Jesus Christ, 
we could not have had the descent and manifesta- 
tion of the Holy Ghost. 

The language of Christ will also include his ex- 
altation in the preaching of his word. No pulpit 
can have genuine power except it manifestly pre- 
sents Christ crucified to worshiping assemblies. 
He so uplifted is still the mightiest magnet to 
draw men and women from self and sin to holi- 
ness and heaven. We see how wonderfully the 
gospel won its triumphs after the descent of the 
Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Christ's exalta- 
tion was then complete and the manifestation of 
his power was glorious and divine. When upon 
the earth he fed a few thousands with the bread 
that perisheth; but after his exaltation to the 
throne he commissions his servants to give the 
bread of life to every creature under heaven. 
During his earthly ministry he was limited to the 
Jewish people ; but after his crucifixion and ascen- 
sion he offers his salvation to all men irrespective 
of nationality, country, or clime. 

3. We observe that this was also certain drawing. 
The condition of Christ's exaltation having been 
met, the power of Christ's attractiveness was 
made absolutely certain. We are here informed 
that he "will draw all men." There is no doubt 
as to the power going out from Christ when ex- 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 19 

alted to his throne. There was a mythological 
fable that Jupiter had a golden chain which he 
could at any time let down from heaven, and by it 
draw the earth, with all its inhabitants, to himself. 
This chain, it is supposed by the interpreters of 
mythologies, represented the union of earth and 
heaven, that it represented the government of 
both by the chain of causes and effects. It was 
called a golden chain to express the beneficence 
of providence in its drawing power upon the earth 
and its peoples. What is here vaguely set forth 
in legend is literally taught in the text, regarding 
the power of the exalted Son of God. While to 
some his cross was a stone of stumbling, it was to 
others a lodestone of irresistible attraction. There 
is to this hour, and there will be forever, a mys- 
terious, majestic, ineffable, attractive influence 
emanating from the cross and the throne of Jesus 
Christ. All men must recognize the uniqueness 
of his place in human history. Even now in 
many parts of our country assemblies of socialists 
and anarchists, who hate the name of the church, 
cheer the name of Christ. To them the church 
is the symbol of a cold and imchristian Christian- 
ity ; and to them at the same time the name of 
Christ is synonymous with gentleness, helpfulness, 
lowliness, graciousness, and brotherly kindness. 

Jesus Christ is the wonder of the world's his- 
tory. His cross stood at the confluence of three 
streams of civilization. On the mount of Trans- 
figuration Moses, as the representative of law, and 



20 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

Elijah, as the representative of prophecy, disap- 
peared in the shadows of the light emanating from 
Jesus Christ; so that the apostles looking up "saw 
no man save Jesus only." All men, whatever their 
creeds and characters may be, must reverence the 
blended humanity and divinity which were mani- 
fested in the Son of God. His name is to-day 
the mightiest name to move men to the noblest 
deeds, and to inspire them with divinest aspira- 
tions which human lips can pronounce. We need 
not fear that the exalted Christ will ever lose his 
power. Whatever changes may come in Christian 
thought and creed, in church form and life, Jesus 
Christ will still be in his divine attractiveness 
"the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Be- 
neath his cross I take my place to-day without 
doubt and with hope, without depression but 
with enthusiasm, knowing well that his gospel is 
still the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth. The power emanating from the 
exalted Christ, exalted to the cross, to the throne, 
and in the pulpit, overthrew the most ancient sys- 
tems of heathen philosophy and mythology, and in 
the ever-brightening future it will achieve similar 
triumphs, and Shintoism, Brahminism, Buddhism, 
and every unchristian "ism," with all their priests 
and votaries, will yet bow the knee to the Son of 
God; and every tongue throughout earth's re- 
motest bound shall proclaim him to be Lord to 
the glory of God the Father. 

4. The attractiveness of Christ is also a gentle 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 



drawing. This thought is suggested by the word 
here translated "will draw." It signifies here a 
gentle rather than a forceful drawing. It is not 
the word that would be employed to suggest draw- 
ing by violence. Christ draws ; he does not drag. 
Christ wins ; he does not force. Christ draws by 
the '* cords of a man." It may still be said of those 
who are sweetly drawn by the power of Christ 
that, '' Thy people shall be willing in the day of 
thy power." God's power is manifested in draw- 
ing men to Christ, in harmony with the laws of 
our nature which God himself has conferred. 
Christ is represented as standing at the door of 
the heart and knocking for admission. With one 
blow of his resistless hand he might shatter the 
door, but that blow he will not inflict. He has 
made man free as a moral agent ; were man not 
free he could not be responsible for his moral acts. 
Freedom is an inalienable attribute of manhood. 
That attribute God respects in his approaches to 
men and in his appeals to their intelligence and 
conscience. God may drive the brute creation; 
but God will draw the creatures made in his own 
image. There is a divine drawing constantly oper- 
ating upon human hearts. God appeals to men in 
the providences of life ; in the still small voice of 
his Spirit; and in the threatenings, commands, and 
promises of his divine word. Oh, let us beware 
how we treat God in his gentle appeals to our 
hearts ! It is one of the profoundest solemnities 
of life that the creature may in a sense resist the 



22 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

Creator; that man may defy God; that man in his 
wicked rebellion may hasten his own destruction. 
Oh, quench not the Spirit to-day ! Oh, grieve not 
the gentle, wooing, beseeching Spirit of God, as 
he would now draw you in loving obedience to the 
heart of Jesus Christ! 

5. This is a comprehensive drawing. ** Will draw 
all men." The word "men" is not expressed, but 
as the word ''all" is masculine in the original, it 
clearly refers to persons. We are not, however, 
to understand these words as teaching universal 
salvation. We must understand that the gospel is 
offered to all men without distinction of race or 
creed. It is certain that Christ here includes Gen- 
tile as well as Jew. The coming of these Greeks to 
him suggested the enlargement of the offer of sal- 
vation which would be made after his glorification. 
All men of every class were to have the opportu- 
nity of becoming the subjects of his glorious sal- 
vation ; all men without distinction were to receive 
the invitations which his messengers were to ex- 
tend. His death would make an atonement suf- 
ficient for the sins of men of every race and every 
degree of guilt. That atonement opened the way 
for a universal offer of redemption through the 
death, resurrection, and glorification of the Son of 
God, The Scriptures everywhere teach the en- 
largement of the sphere of redeeming grace in the 
times of the Messiah. Jesus was to be exalted as 
an ensign of the people and to him the Gentiles 
would come. Some would limit the language here 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 23 

to those whom they call the elect ; others would 
go to the opposite extreme and find here the doc- 
trine of universal salvation. But the words em- 
ployed do not necessarily mean effectual calling. 
They do not teach that this drawing is irresistible. 
No affirmation is here made as to the extent to 
which the overtures of the gospel will be accepted. 
While we know that the provisions of the gospel 
are sufficient for all sinners, we know also that 
they are efficient only for those who believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. It is not here affirmed that 
all will actually embrace the offers of salvation and 
receive Christ as their Redeemer and Lord. In 
fact, we know from Scripture and we know from 
observation, that all men who hear the gospel do 
not receive it to the salvation of their souls. 

The fulfillment of this promise is still going for- 
ward ; it is worldwide, and it is constantly finding 
its realization. To-day Japan stands on tiptoe with 
the light of the gospel falling on her upturned 
face ; to-day China is arousing herself from the 
conservatism of centuries and receiving or oppos- 
ing the truth as it is in Jesus ; to-day India with 
its teeming populations is shaking off the bond- 
age of her heathenism, and like the Greeks who 
came to Philip, is saying to the missionary of the 
cross, *' Sir, we would see Jesus." To-day Africa 
is reaching out her hands and crying unto God for 
deliverance from the superstitions of centuries, and 
is longing for the light and liberty which come 
alone from Jesus Christ. The day is coming when 



24 THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 

the final goal will be reached, and from sea to sea, 
from the rivers to the ends of the earth, from pole 
to pole, there will be one flock under one shepherd, 
and Christ shall see of the travail of his soul and 
shall be satisfied. 

6. This is, in the last place, an evangelical draw- 
i7ig. ** Will draw all men unto me." Some have 
supposed that all things as well as men are to be 
included here. There is a truth, doubtless, in the 
suggestion that all agencies, all resources, all forms 
of wealth, all kinds of political power, all inven- 
tions, all discoveries, all railroads, telegraphs, and 
telephones, are in a sense to be drawn to Jesus 
Christ. They are to be used in his service ; they 
are to contribute to the salvation of men and to 
the greater exaltation of Christ. But the special 
reference is, of course, to men, and they are to be 
drawn to himself. The word "me" is literally 
"myself." The crucified Christ is the great object 
of faith, the supreme attraction for lost men. He 
himself draws all men unto himself — men of all 
classes and climes, of all interests and characters. 
The drawing will not be discontinued until men 
actually come to the living Lord as their persona] 
Saviour. It is not enough that they be drawn to 
the adoption of formal and lifeless creeds ; not 
enough that they come into the fellowship of the 
visible church ; not enough that they adopt the 
external moralities of Christian faith. The draw- 
ing here is not simply to baptism and to church 
fellowship and to the Lord's Supper. If men are 



THE ATTRACTIVE CHRIST 25 

drawn only thither they have not reached salva- 
tion ; they are still in the plain where destruction 
may overtake them. They must flee into the 
mountain ; they must find refuge in Jesus Christ. 
It is not enough that they should simply believe 
in the atonement ; they must believe in the Atoner. 
Not enough that they should in a technical way 
believe in redemption ; they must believe in the 
Redeemer. Not enough that they accept verbally 
spiritual deliverance ; they must accept personally 
the spiritual Deliverer. Oh, that all in this audi- 
ence, and all men throughout the world, might now 
look on the uplifted Christ, be drawn to his heart, 
and so be saved with an everlasting salvation ! 



THE HEALING LORD 



And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.- 
Matt 8 : 7. 



II 



THE Evangelist Luke places this interesting 
miracle immediately after the Sermon on 
the Plain. There is, however, no contradiction 
between the order which he gives and that ob- 
served by Matthew. Matthew here gives us ex- 
amples of our Lord's earlier miracles without strict 
regard to chronological order. His language does 
not necessarily connect this miracle closely with 
that which precedes. The prominence of the cen- 
turion whose servant was healed probably led to 
the selection of this miracle from others which 
might have been recorded, and the healing with- 
out touching or seeing the person afflicted may 
also have influenced the evangelist in selecting 
this miracle and in giving it its position in the in- 
spired narrative. Capernaum had now become 
Christ's principal residence. It was also the cen- 
ter of his operations in that vicinity. After his 
preaching tours he went back to Capernaum as his 
home. On one occasion as he entered the town 
a centurion came to him preferring a request for 
his boy or servant, or more strictly, his slave. A 
centurion was a Roman officer commanding one 
hundred men. This particular centurion was 
probably stationed at Capernaum as it was an im- 
portant provincial town, and the center of con- 

29 



30 THE HEALING LORD 

siderable traffic on the sea of Galilee. He was 
probably in the service of Herod Antipas and his 
presence and that of his soldiers might be required 
in that vicinity to preserve order. Let us study, 
for a little time, the promise which was here given. 
It is worthy of notice that it was a promise 
made in answer to prayer. We do not know with 
certainty whether the centurion approached him 
personally or through the instrumentality of others. 
The centurion knew well that in the judgment of 
the Jews all heathen were without the covenant 
and so without the pale of mercy. He knew well 
that a middle wall of partition separated between 
the children of Abraham and all Gentiles. Per- 
haps he did not therefore personally approach 
Christ, but sent others, entreating him that he 
would come and heal his servant. From the nar- 
rative in Matthew it would seem that he had come 
himself, but perhaps we are to take the expression 
with a somewhat broader meaning as taught in the 
parallel passage in Luke. There it would seem 
that the elders of the Jews were employed on this 
errand ; it would also seem that they were very 
willing messengers. They pleaded for him as one 
who deserved a favor at their hands, and they add, 
'' for he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a 
synagogue." Perhaps, indeed, both he and the 
elders came at different times. The truth to be 
emphasized at this point is that the promise was 
made in answer to prayer. Had the centurion not 
prayed, the Saviour had not promised. That we 



THE HEALING LORD 



may receive blessings from God our minds must 
be prepared for their reception. Our hearts must 
be on the same key as God's heart. Two pianos 
or harps in a room will give appropriate response 
when a chord on either is struck. There is some 
subtle affinity between the lightning and its con- 
ductor. There is evermore a relation, doubtless 
along the lines of strict natural law, if only we 
were able to understand the law, between the 
prayers we offer, the promises God makes, and the 
blessings we receive. Prayer is the nerve which 
moves the muscles of omnipotence ; prayer is the 
muscle which moves the arm of the Almighty. 
All earthly blessings are in some way related to 
earnest prayers. It has been well said that it was 
in Luther's closet that the Reformation was born. 
Constantine was right when he refused to have 
his statue taken standing and insisted that it be 
taken kneeling, as it was by kneeling in prayer 
to God that he had risen to eminence among 
men. We know that before the delivery of Presi- 
dent Edwards' great sermon on '' Sinners in the 
Hands of an Angry God," which so mightily 
moved his congregation, certain earnest Christians 
had spent the preceding night in prayer. It is 
also affirmed that a company of believers spent the 
night in prayer before the delivery of John Living- 
ston's sermon, which resulted in the conversion of 
hundreds of souls and started a revival movement 
which swept with irresistible power over parts of 
Scotland and Ireland. The Scriptures abound in 



32 THE HEALING LORD 

illustrations of immediate and direct answers to 
prayers. Noble as were the achievements of mod- 
ern science when the American continent was 
girdled by telegraphs, and still nobler when the 
old world and the new were so united, a still more 
remarkable spiritual telegraph exists. Abraham 
said unto God, " Oh, that Ishmael might live before 
thee ! " and the immediate answer came, '^ As for 
Ishmael, I have heard thee." In critical circum- 
stances David asked of the Lord, " Shall I go and 
smite these Philistines ? " And the answer of God 
immediately came, " Go, and smite the Philistines." 
Similar examples might be greatly multiplied show- 
ing that man may talk to God, and that God im- 
mediately replies to man in answer to his prayer. 
Indeed, the lives of Moses, Isaiah, Hezekiah, Elijah, 
Daniel, and thousands in the history of the Chris- 
tian church, would be utterly inexplicable but 
for the blessed truth that God hears and answers 
prayer. The day may come when it will be seen 
that this spiritual telegraph from earth to heaven 
is as fully in harmony with great laws of the phys- 
ical and spiritual universe, as it is now seen that 
telegraphs and telephones are in harmony with 
the laws of God, which we usually call the laws of 
nature. We are warranted in saying that if Stephen 
had not prayed Paul had not been converted. Is 
there not a similar relation between the prayers of 
thousands of parents, teachers, and other Chris- 
tians, and the conversion of thousands of men now 
in our pulpits and tens of thousands in the pews. 



THE HEALING LORD 33 

Again, it is to be noticed thst this promise is 
made iji answer to the prayer of a Gentile. This fact 
is quite remarkable. God had promised to answer 
prayer when offered by the '' seed of Jacob," but this 
man did not belong to the stock of Abraham. He 
was probably one of the Roman garrison of Ca- 
pernaum. He was by birth a heathen. But per- 
haps he felt the utter emptiness and worthlessness 
of faith in the many gods of polytheism. Many 
trained in heathenism experienced the need of a 
fuller faith than heathenism could give, and they 
had attached themselves in nearer or remoter re- 
lations to the congregations in Israel. They found 
that Judaism gave a satisfaction to the deepest 
wants of their spiritual nature which heathenism 
could never supply. Some of these had become 
proselytes of different names, and they thus 
formed a connection between Gentile and Jew 
which greatly helped in the spread of the gospel, 
and in the bringing in of that time when there was 
neither Jew nor Gentile, but a blessed oneness in 
Christ Jesus. It is most interesting to observe 
that all the centurions mentioned in the New 
Testament, so far as we have any knowledge of 
their history, were men of worthy character. We 
have in addition to the one brought before us in 
connection with the text, the centurion who was 
on guard at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. 
This man saw the wonderful portents which ac- 
companied the death of the Son of God. He 
acknowledged the claims of Jesus, saying, "Truly 



34 THE HEALING LORD 

this man was the Son of God." We also have the 
case of CorneHus, who had renounced idolatry and 
had become a worshiper of Jehovah before he 
had received a knowledge of the gospel. His 
case marks a distinct epoch in the earlier history 
of the church. He feared God, he gave alms, 
and he had a good reputation among the Jews. 
His prayers for fuller light were graciously 
answered, until at length he was honored as the 
first Gentile convert received into the church, in 
such a way as to prove that Christ's religion was 
intended for all and was not limited by the rites 
of Judaism. We also have the case of Julius, who 
was the keeper of the Apostle Paul on his journey 
to Rome. This centurion was a model of courtesy 
and kindness. He was a man of noble elements 
of character even before he became a Christian. 
His conversion added Christian graces to his 
original and rare endowments. Indeed these cen- 
turions seem to have preserved in their character 
and conduct some of the virtues of the earlier and 
purer Romans "in the brave days of old." 

That Gentiles should find light and life in Juda- 
ism was quite in harmony with all the promises of 
the Old Testament regarding the Messiah. It was 
distinctly said in connection with our Lord's pre- 
sentation in the temple that he should be '*a light 
to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy 
people Israel." This statement is in harmony 
with the prophecy that "in his name shall the 
Gentiles trust." It was in harmony with his own 



THE HEALING LORD 35 

words, ''Him that cometh unto me I will in no 
wise cast out." It is in harmony also with the 
teachings of the Apostle Paul, when he said, " For 
there is no difference between the Jew and the 
Greek ; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all 
that call upon him." Christianity was needed by, 
intended for, and adapted to, all nations of all 
climes and in all centuries. It is the only religion 
ever promulgated among men that was intended 
for all nations, irrespective of color or condition. 
In this respect Christianity is unique among the 
religions of the earth. Jesus Christ was the only 
founder of a faith that was intended to become 
universal. Such a conception marks him as the 
foremost thinker of the world. Such a conception 
as this never dawned upon the minds of the sages 
of Greece or Rome, and never suggested itself 
to the dreamiest imagination of the dreamiest 
Oriental philosopher. 

We see also that this is a promise made to a 
Gentile for a slave. The word translated "serv- 
ant," in the ninth verse, means a bondman or a 
slave, although it is also used to express a service 
that is voluntary. We know that in the days of 
Christ slavery was almost universal among heathen 
nations. Such a request on the part of the cen- 
turion was an evidence of great consideration and 
condescension. Slaves then had no rights which 
freemen were bound to respect. Even Cicero 
deemed it needful to excuse himself for feeling 
sorrowful over the death of a domestic servant in 



36 THE HEALING LORD 

his household. One has only to pronounce the 
names of Domitius, Octavius, and others in simi- 
lar positions, to be reminded of their unspeakable 
brutality toward slaves. The lives of these slaves 
were not more valuable in their sight than the 
lives of insignificant domestic animals. The hu- 
mility and condescension of the centurion are 
worthy of all praise. He counted himself guilty 
of presumption to have asked the presence of 
Christ under his roof. Not only did he feel his 
unworthiness as a heathen, but his spiritual un- 
worthiness as a sinner, in asking for the presence 
of the King of Israel and the Lord of glory in his 
home. He asked, therefore, simply that Christ 
should speak the word, and he knew that his serv- 
ant would be healed. All the indications of this 
man's character, as brought out in the narrative, 
commend him to our consideration. He was one 
of those true children of God outside the fellow- 
ship of a recognized faith. The manner in which 
he spoke of himself as ''a man under authority," 
showed his conception of Christ's position and 
power. If it were true that he, occupying so 
much lower a place than Christ, had those who 
obeyed him, how much more certain was it that 
Christ's word would be powerful over men, dis- 
eases, and devils. He recognized the fact that 
Christ was Prince over angels and spirits. He 
therefore could, without going to the centurion's 
house, give his command, and it would be speedily 
executed by the messengers of his will. 



THE HEALING LORD 37 

The centurion here evidences a conception of 
Christ's relation to the kingdom of earth and heaven, 
as beautiful as it is original, and as truthful as it is 
spiritual. This servant was a paralytic. He suf- 
fered from an abnormal relaxation of the nerves, 
and from the loss of sensation and the power of 
voluntary motion. It seemed as if he was on the 
very border of death. It is not wonderful that 
Christ marveled at the centurion's beautiful union 
of childlike faith and profound humility ; it is not 
wonderful that Christ said, " Verily I say unto you, 
I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." 
Christ did not reject those who came to him on 
their own account ; neither did he reject those who 
came on behalf of others. It is a wonderful bless- 
ing which comes to our own souls when we are 
anxious for the conversion of the souls of our fel- 
low-men. We are told that, "the Lord turned the 
captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends." 
Would to God that we all experienced deep anxiety 
for the conversion of those about us ! Men on 
every hand are suffering from spiritual paralysis, 
and only Christ can heal them. Let us go on 
their behalf to Christ with full purpose of heart as 
did the elders or the centurion on behalf of the 
domestic servant. Let us carry them, as did those 
who let down the sick man through the roof at the 
feet of Christ, to the great Physician. There is no 
selfishness in true religion. The more we give 
away, the more we keep ; the less we bestow, the 
less we possess. When our hearts are warm with 



38 THE HEALING LORD 

the love of Christ, we cannot rest satisfied until 
we bring all about us to the heart of Christ, that 
they also may be saved with an everlasting salva- 
tion. 

It is further to be remarked that this is a promise 
of more than was asked; for in the prayer that was 
offered, the centurion left all with Christ, and 
Christ answered, " I will come and heal him." 
The mothers brought their little children to Jesus 
that he might touch them; Jesus took them up, 
folded them in his arms, and blessed them. Christ 
always gives us more than we deserve, and usually 
more than we ask. We receive not more because 
we ask so little. We are not to dictate to God, 
but we are to ask God to bestow blessings in har- 
mony with his own righteous will. The centurion 
simply informed Christ that his servant lay at 
home sick of the palsy ; then Jesus made his 
gracious promise. But Jesus did even more than 
he promised. We also are diseased. The case of 
men everywhere is desperate because of the disease 
of sin. For them the world has not sure promise 
of relief; for them philosophy gives no panacea. 
For the ills of life and the diseases of sin human 
wisdom has no remedy. Whither shall men go for 
relief 1 Thank God, there is a balm in Gilead, and 
there is a physician there. Thank God, Christ is 
able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto 
God by him. Thank God, that '* the Son of Man 
is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 

Gracious was the action of Christ in connection 



THE HEALING LORD 39 

with the healing of this servant. He said to the 
centurion, or his messengers, '* Go thy way, and as 
thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." And 
we are permitted to read, "And his servant was 
healed in the selfsame hour." Not only was the 
force of the disease broken, but the disease itself 
was entirely removed. Wonderful is the conde- 
scension of Jesus Christ ! He loves to bestow the 
treasures of his grace upon needy souls. He waits 
here to-day to answer those who ask for the for- 
giveness of sin and for the healing of their souls. 

This leads us to observe, in the last place, that 
this is a promise which was immediately fulfilled. 
We have already seen that in the selfsame hour 
the servant was healed. Moses prayed, " I beseech 
Thee, show me thy glory," and immediately the 
answer came, " I will make all my goodness pass 
before thee." Wonderful is it that God often an- 
swers so promptly and so fully. He fulfills his 
own promise, " While they are yet speaking I will 
answer." We have in the account of the healing 
of the centurion's servant the first instance of faith 
in Christ's power to heal at a distance, and we 
have also seen that this great faith was not exer- 
cised by some favored Israelite, but by an outcast 
Gentile. I have read that a British soldier in India 
was lying near to death. He had long neglected, 
and often had reviled, religion ; but now that he 
was dying, he wished that some one might tell 
him how he might be saved. Soon he thought of 
a Christian friend living at a distance of one 



40 THE HEALING LORD 

hundred and sixty miles, and to him he sent this 
telegraphic message : ''I am dying ; what shall I 
do to be saved ?" Instantly the reply came back 
to him, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved." He laid hold of the truth 
thus communicated by telegraph. The words were 
received in an honest and trustful heart, and soon 
he died with the hope of salvation in his soul. 
Thank God, that as Christ was able to heal at a 
distance, he is able from his throne in heaven at 
this moment to send saving grace to every sin-sick 
soul. To-day parents, teachers, and pastor are 
praying for some of you. Will you trample over 
a kneeling mother and a praying father, as you 
press along the downward road to everlasting per- 
dition ^ Stop ! I beseech you, stop now, and re- 
ceive the salvation which Jesus offers. I would be 
to-day the centurion going to Jesus on your behalf. 
I now communicate to you his willingness to say, 
" I will come and heal him." Are you willing to 
be healed .? Do not tell me that you .need no 
healing. Do not claim that you are only slightly 
diseased. The leprosy of sin is deadly. There is 
only one Physician who can cure the sin-sick soul ; 
there is only one balm that can heal this terrible 
wound. Here and now I lift before you Jesus 
Christ as the Saviour of the lost. Hear me, rather 
hear God who speaks in his word and through my 
lips, saying, '* Look unto me, and be ye saved, all 
the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is 
none else." 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 



For I know whom, I have believed, and am persuaded 
that he is able to keep that which I have com7nitted unto 
him against that day. — 2 Tim. i : 12. 



Ill 



GOD is the absolutely faithful trustee. Stew- 
ards must be faithful or they are unworthy 
of their name. God must be just or he would 
cease to be God. Perhaps good and God are not 
etymologically one ; but goodness and godliness 
are practically one and the same thing. Godhood 
and falsehood are incompatible ideas ; an unjust 
God we cannot for a moment consider possible. 
One unjust act on the part of God would leave the 
throne of the world vacant, and the whole world 
godless. God is the able, stable, reliable trustee 
of all the interests of immortal beings for time and 
for eternity. 

These great truths the Apostle Paul fully ap- 
preciated when he wrote the words chosen as the 
text. These words were written in prison in 
Rome. This fact seems apparent everywhere 
throughout the Epistle, although there is some 
doubt as to whether it was written during the 
apostle's first or second imprisonment. It is, 
however, almost the unanimous opinion of scholars 
that it was written at Rome, and while the apostle 
was there imprisoned. The words belong to what 
is probably the last Epistle which the great apostle 
ever wrote. He was then nearing the end of his 
journey, awaiting his almost certain martyrdom. 

43 



44 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

The Epistle is, therefore, invested with the 
deepest and tenderest interest. It contains the 
dying counsels of the most eminent apostle to a 
young man whom he greatly loved and who was 
then just entering upon his ministerial life. This 
young man, Timothy, was the apostle's son in the 
gospel. Over the early years of his Christian life 
the apostle watched with paternal solicitude, and 
now that he has entered upon his public career, 
the apostle still counsels him with fatherly wisdom 
and motherly affection. We have here the glori- 
ous words of triumphant assurance which the 
matchless Paul speaks to his beloved disciple. If 
ever Paul's heart voiced itself in deep emotion, it is 
in this Epistle ; if ever he spoke as a dying man 
to dying men, it is throughout these chapters. 
Timothy's presence the apostle greatly desired, 
especially because nearly all others in whom he 
might have reposed confidence had deserted him 
in his hour of need. Only Luke was with him, 
and he desired that Timothy also might be near in 
his time of trial, as well as to aid in the work of 
the ministry. The apostle's last words to Timothy 
are spoken assuredly as the result of profound con- 
viction. Here we sit at this great man's feet and 
hear his parting counsels. Soon he may have to 
stand before Nero ; soon he may receive the sen- 
tence of condemnation ; soon the headsman's sword 
may sever his head from his body ; and soon he 
may stand in the presence of the Judge of the 
quick and the dead. All these facts the apostle 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 45 

well knew ; but nowhere in this letter is there a 
tone of defeat. The letter is a bugle note ; it is a 
shout of triumph ; it is a paean of victory. How 
glorious is the Christian faith when it supports the 
apostle in scenes like these ! This Epistle should 
be read with the deepest interest. We are always 
supposed to attach much significance to the words 
of a dying man ; then, if ever, we feel that the 
man will speak the absolute truth regarding the 
things that lie nearest his deepest heart. To all 
Christians, and especially Christian ministers, this 
Epistle is invaluable. It tenderly touches our 
hearts ; it inspires our hopes ; it brightens our 
prospects. The text epitomizes much of the Epis- 
tle; it has been a benediction to thousands of 
souls. It assures the doubting, confirms the wa- 
vering, and inspires the hopeless. 

In studying the text, we notice, in the first 
place, the apostle's committal — " that which I have 
committed unto him against that day." This com- 
mittal possesses some striking characteristics. It 
is a personal committal. It is interesting to notice 
the pronouns, /, zvhom, he, and him, as they appear 
in this text. The apostle came into personal rela- 
tions with the Lord Jesus ; he knew that no one 
but himself could make this committal for himself. 
Religion is a personal matter between the individual 
soul and God. No man can believe by proxy ; no 
man can obey by proxy. In the strict sense of the 
word no man can be sponsor for his fellow-man. 
Personality is eternal ; a wall as high as heaven 



46 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

and as deep as hell, divides every man in his deepest 
religious relations from every other man. No rite, 
no tradition, no ordinance ought to be allowed to 
come between the soul and God. It is said that 
when the learned Dr. Alexander was dying, a 
Christian friend undertook to quote, at his bed- 
side, the verse now used as the text, but in repeat- 
ing it, said, " I know in whom I have believed." 
The dying man roused himself and interrupted his 
friend, saying, "■ Let not even a preposition come 
between me and my blessed Saviour." Too often 
we have let whole creeds, ancient traditions, un- 
scriptural rites and groundless superstitions come 
between us and our divine Redeemer. There is 
much of heathen superstition in many Christian 
creeds. It is most unfortunate for the church of 
Christ that so many things have come between the 
seeking soul and the seeking Saviour. It is to be 
feared, that often at the bedside of the dying the 
ordinance of the Lord's Supper has been thrust 
between the soul asking for Christ and Christ who 
waits to deliver the penitent and trusting sinner. 
The apostle's committal was in the deepest and 
broadest and fullest sense a personal committal. 

It was also a universal committal. He com- 
mitted to Christ all his bodily interests. He knew 
not what might shortly befall his body. Bonds 
and afflictions might await him ; death could not, 
at longest, be far distant. He knew that already 
his body had suffered much on behalf of his Lord. 
He in writing to the Galatians reminded them 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 4/ 

that he bore in his body the marks of the Lord 
Jesus ; he referred to this fact with a tenderness 
and dehcacy which deeply touch our hearts as we 
read his words. He well knew that all forms of 
suffering had been endured, and he might well 
expect still greater sufferings, if that were possible, 
in the near future. But here and now he commits 
all the interests of his physical being for sickness 
or health, for joy or sorrow, for life or death, into 
the keeping of his glorious Lord. 

He committed also all the concerns of his pro- 
fessional life to the Lord Jesus. There were, 
doubtless, those who believed that the Apostle 
Paul had made a great mistake when he became 
the disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. The apostle 
might well have cherished high professional ambi- 
tions ; he doubtless would have taken high rank as 
a learned rabbi. He might have stood at the head 
of some famous school of rabbinical learning ; he 
might have been known throughout the learned 
world of his day as a leader of philosophic 
thought. With his great powers of mind, with 
his vast and varied erudition, he might have taken 
rank with the orators, scholars, and statesmen of 
his day. But all these possibilities, eminently be- 
coming and desirable in themselves, he counted 
but dross for the excellence of the knowledge and 
service of Jesus Christ. He was willing to be 
nothing that Christ might be ever)rthing ; he was 
wilUng to lose his life for Christ's sake; and 
thereby he found his truer, nobler, and diviner 



48 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

life. But for his consecration to Christ compara- 
tively few in the world to-day would have ever 
heard his name. His indifference to earthly re- 
nown has secured for him a renown otherwise 
utterly impossible. His whole-hearted service for 
God, irrespective of reputation or fame, has 
crowned him with glory which time shall not dim, 
and fame which will increase with the passing 
generations. The same law holds true to-day. 
The willingness of Carey to spend and be spent 
among the heathen in India, has made his name 
synonymous with the missionary enterprise round 
the globe. In his consuming zeal for the lost 
souls of the heathen, Judson was willing to sacri- 
fice home, country, fame, and life; and in the 
heroism of that sacrifice he has written his name 
among the immortals. But for his heroic sacrifice 
he might have been merely a successful pastor in 
a quiet American parish, instead of being one of 
the brightest stars in the missionary firmament. 
God help us all to learn this lesson, and to lay 
ourselves in joyous and complete consecration 
upon the altar of Jesus Christ. 

It was also an eternal committal. It reached 
past time and entered eternity. The apostle com- 
mitted his soul for time and eternity to the keep- 
ing of his Lord; '^ against that day" was the limit 
of the committal, as he here describes it. In so 
speaking the apostle had in mind the great day of 
judgment. When language like that of the text 
is employed, the judgment day, ''the day for 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 49 

which all other days were made,-' is always in the 
writer's mind. The early Christians seem so often 
to have thought and spoken of the judgment day 
that it came to be readily understood when they 
referred to it simply as "that day," The apostle 
looked forward to seeing his Lord and Saviour 
seated on his great white throne. He had seen 
him amid the blinding light of the Damascus 
highway; he is at the last to see him above all 
principalities and powers, in all the splendor and 
glory of divine triumph. But the apostle looked 
to that time without fear or alarm. In the Judge 
he will find his best friend ; in the King his loved 
Saviour. The apostle knew that Christ was both 
able and willing to keep him from the power of 
sin, and to preserve him in holiness of heart and 
life until that great day. He knew that Christ 
would go with him through all the trials of life, 
would sweeten its bitter waters, would cool the 
fierceness of its flames, would go with him into the 
valley of the shadow of death, and would at last 
welcome him among the redeemed. He had no 
fear in going into the solemnities of the unknown 
world and across the trackless sea, so long as he 
had Jesus Christ as guide and pilot. 

We observe, in the second place, the apostle's 
perstcasiouy as set forth in this text. He was per- 
suaded that Christ was able to keep body, soul, 
and spirit for time and for eternity. His persua- 
sion was absolutely certain. No doubt intruded 
itself into his creed; no fear marred the joy of 

D 



50 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

his Christian service. He believed that his hfe 
was immortal until his work was accomplished. 
He was fully convinced that his soul was entirely 
safe from the dominion of sin, the fear of death, 
and the terror of the judgment. No man can 
have any higher interest in life, or more solemn 
duty in preparing for eternity, than to commit his 
soul with all its interests to the keeping of the 
Son of God. Religion largely consists in the 
making of such a committal, and in the enjoy- 
ment of the certain persuasion which results from 
so trusting Jesus Christ. What shall we do with 
this great, this invaluable treasure ? We take our 
valuables now to the safe deposit company ; we are 
persuaded that that company is able to keep in 
safety what we commit to its trusted officers. The 
committal is actually made, and our comfort in the 
knowledge of the strength and character of the 
company is complete. We are asked indirectly, 
by the example of the apostle, to make such a 
committal of the soul to the Lord Jesus now. 
Out of the knowledge of that committal will come 
the certain and joyous persuasion which the apos- 
tle here experienced. 

It was also a joyous persuasion. No man can 
know true joy until he cherishes a genuine Chris- 
tian faith. Those who have never known this joy 
have never known the greatest blessedness which 
human life can experience. If the soul be safe 
we need not be disturbed by the insecurity of any 
earthly treasure. All earthly interests, however 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 5 I 

important in themselves, are but secondary com- 
pared with the interests of the soul and of eter- 
nity. These interests far outnumber and outweigh 
all temporal concerns, earthly joys, and sublunary 
achievements. The man who has not made this 
surrender to the Lord Jesus is an enemy to all his 
own higher interests both here and hereafter. Bet- 
ter live in a prison than in a palace on earth cherish- 
ing the hope of a joyous eternity, than to live amid 
the greatest luxuries, living without God and dying 
without hope. The apostle's conviction gave him 
peace amid all the trials of life, security in the 
presence of his bitterest foes, and triumph in the 
prospect of an ignominious death. 

His persuasion was experimental. It was founded 
upon a broad and varied experience. The apostle 
was a poet, a philosopher, a prophet, a preacher, 
a Christian. He was as truly the apostle of 
logic as he was the apostle of love. The noblest 
poets are the ablest prophets. Tennyson was a 
true interpreter of the highest thoughts of our 
time. The Apostle Paul was not surpassed in 
tenderness of feeling, clearness of thinking, vigor 
of action, and breadth of thought, by any man of 
his time or of our time. His words in this text 
are not the words of the fanatic, the recluse, or- 
the tyro in knowledge of men and of affairs. Few 
men at any time had an experience more varied 
than was his ; and few men mingled more freely 
with soldiers, scholars, thinkers, and actors in 
every phase of life, than did the matchless Paul. 



52 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

His conviction is based on a wide and accurate 
knowledge of the principles and motives usually 
considered valuable and dominant among men. 
We are listening to the words of a scholar, philos- 
opher, and devoted disciple. No more competent 
was Solomon to speak authoritatively on the vani- 
ties of life than was the kingly Apostle Paul to 
speak authoritatively on the verities of faith and 
hope. We listen to his words as to those of age, 
experience, character, and deepest conviction. This 
is the testimony which he gives as he confronts 
death, as the darkness of the tomb and the bright- 
ness of the throne cast their blended shadows and 
lights upon his upturned face. Glorious apostle ! 
Authoritative witness, devout disciple, heroic mar- 
tyr ! We receive thy words as words spoken 
almost amid the solemnities of the eternal world. 

We notice, in the last place, the apostle's knowl- 
edge of the truths which he here affirms — '' I know 
whom I have believed." He had exercised a sweet 
and unquestioning faith ; he had reposed a firm 
and unwavering trust in Jesus Christ as his Sav- 
iour. Of this fact he possesses absolute knowl- 
edge. His knowledge rests on a solid foundation ; 
it rests upon the faith which he had reposed in 
Jesus Christ. He knew whom he believed. His 
knowledge was personal, both as related to himself 
as the subject of faith, and as related to Jesus 
Christ as the object of faith. Faith never is op- 
posed to knowledge ; faith is knowledge of the 
highest kind. We climb the ladder of reason to 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 53 

its topmost round, and, being unable to go far- 
ther, we reach out our hand into the space beyond ; 
but there is no one to grasp the outstretched hand, 
and there is no foundation for the uplifted foot, 
until faith permits us to place our hand in the 
hand of Jesus and our foot on a pavement firm as 
adamant. Faith is knowledge raised to the highest 
power ; faith is knowledge resting on a blessed ex- 
perience ; " faith is assurance of things hoped for, 
conviction of things not seen." Reason rightly 
understood is not opposed to faith. Reason and 
faith are twin sisters. He is not worthy the name 
of rationalist who refuses to exercise faith in Jesus 
Christ as a personal Saviour. He is an irration- 
alist who so refuses. Rationalism has been de- 
graded by being placed in opposition to intelligent 
faith. Rationalism ought never to be opposed to 
the teaching of revelation and to the deepest expe- 
riences of the spiritual life. He is a true rationalist 
who sits in lowly obedience as a disciple at the feet 
of the Lord's Christ. The school of Christ is the 
noblest university the world has ever known. He 
can best walk the dizzy heights of intellectual 
greatness who has just risen from kneeling at the 
pierced feet of the Son of God. 

There is a sweet personality in the apostle's 
knowledge. It may be permitted to call attention 
again to his use of the pronouns / and whom in 
this connection. He believed for himself and not 
for another ; and as there was a marked person- 
ality in the subject, so there was in the object of 



54 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

the belief described. He did not believe simply 
in a doctrine, but in a person ; not simply in a 
teaching, but in a teacher ; not simply in a redemp- 
tion, but in a redeemer ; not simply in a deliver- 
ance, but in a deliverer. He calls attention em- 
phatically to the fact that it is not what, but whom 
he believes. There is here an important distinc- 
tion, a distinction which we have too often forgot- 
ten. The creed to be vital must lay hold of a 
person rather than simply a doctrine. Spiritual 
faith in its deepest significance is a mighty grip 
upon God. One may, parrot-like, recite creeds by 
the yard ; but these creeds will be powerless except 
they lay hold with a firm grasp upon the living, 
loving, and unchanging God. One object in all 
the revelations of the Bible is to lead us up to a 
divine person ; that person is Jesus Christ, the 
divine Lord and Redeemer. Except our creeds 
lead the heart to God in the person of his Son 
Jesus Christ, these creeds must be powerless and 
may become hurtful. Beautifully, as already sug- 
gested, does the apostle call our attention here to 
the whom rather than the what of his knowledge 
and faith. He saw Jesus Christ clearly set forth 
as crucified for him and as now sitting at the right 
hand of God as his personal Lord and Saviour. 

The apostle's knowledge was therefore certain 
knowledge. There was in his thought no doubt 
whatever regarding the faith he exercised, the 
committal he had made, and all the blessed hopes 
which now he was permitted to cherish. Doubt 



THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 55 

cuts the nerve of power in the Christian life ; 
doubt paralyzes the arm of service in our Christian 
activity. Doubt is the infancy of Christian expe- 
rience; faith is the manhood of Christian attain- 
ment. Doubt is the gray dawn of the morning ; 
faith is the splendor of the noonday sun. Our 
faith is too largely expressing itself with " ifs, per- 
hapses, and peradventures." The spirit of subtle 
agnosticism is abroad in the land. Many speak as 
if agnosticism were synonymous with intellectual 
acumen ; they teach that implicit faith is indica- 
tive of shallow thought. Never was a greater mis- 
take made than this. Agnosticism, with apparent 
modesty, says, ''I know almost nothing." But in 
so saying the typical agnostic virtually means, ** I 
fully know everything." There is a blessed gnos- 
ticism in the Bible and in Christian experience. 
The sect of Gnostic philosophers that rose in the 
first ages of Christianity, were guilty of assuming 
that they only had the true knowledge of the 
Christian faith. The sect of agnostic philosophers 
that has arisen in these later days pretends to 
know everything, both of science and of religion. 
Thank God, there is a true gnosticism, a gnosti- 
cism that recognizes its own limitations, and readily 
admits the propriety of agnosticism regarding many 
things, but which holds firmly, unquestioningly, and 
sublimely to its faith regarding certain other things. 
We thank God for the *' knows" of the Bible. 
One's heart is stirred as he hears ringing down the 
ages the voice of Job saying, ''For I know that my 



56 THE DIVINE TRUSTEE 

Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the 
latter day upon the earth " ; the voice of the blind 
man who was healed by Christ, saying, " One 
thing I know, that whereas I was blind now I see" ; 
the voice of the beloved John, saying, " We know 
that we have passed from death unto life, because 
we love the brethren " ; the voice of the Apostle 
Paul in the text, saying, " I know whom I have 
believed " ; and the voice of the Son of God himself, 
saying, " We speak that we do know, and testify 
that we have seen." 

Blessed are they who know that they have passed 
from death unto life, who know that they are 
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. 
To-day Christ offers to be the trustee of all our 
most sacred interests for time and for eternity. 
He will receive our poor, sinful hearts and broken 
lives ; and he will transform the one and re-create 
the other, making us his redeemed children. 
Come to-day and trust Paul's Saviour ; never has 
he denied acceptance to any penitent sinner. To- 
day with a whole-hearted confidence you may 
make this great committal to Jesus Christ ; to-day 
you may exercise this blessed persuasion ; to-day 
you may rejoice in the glorious knowledge that 
you have committed your soul, your life, your all 
for time and eternity to Jesus Christ ; and no 
power on earth or in hell can pluck out of his 
hand that which you " have committed unto him 
against that day." 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 



Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth. — 
John 77 .• ly. 



IV 

IN the fifteenth verse of this chapter our Lord 
prayed that the disciples might not be taken 
out of the world, but kept from the evil that is 
in the world. That petition is both appropriate 
and beautiful, but it was negative, in form at 
least, and a broader petition seems necessary. 
As our Lord did not leave his work until it was 
finished, so he would not have his disciples leave 
the world until they also had finished their work. 
The world needs Christians to illustrate the spirit 
of Christ, as it needed Christ to perform his unique 
work of redemption. 

Our Lord now passes, in the text, to the positive 
form of the petition. He desired much more than 
that they should be preserved from evil simply; 
they were to be wholly consecrated to good. He 
therefore here prays positively for the blessing 
which in the former petition he had negatively in- 
voked. There is, of course, perfect harmony be- 
tween these two forms of prayer. To preserve 
from evil is, partly at least, to sanctify to good. 
Preservation from moral defilement is in itself a 
form of sanctification to moral good. We find in 
this suggestive petition three divine things. 

First, there is here mentioned a divine grace — 
sanctification. This grace the disciples already 

59 



6o THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

partially possessed. They were already set apart 
by an external separation or consecration to the 
apostolic office ; but the word means vastly more 
than external separation. They were also partially 
sanctified in their inward life ; but the word here 
means a continuous and progressive sanctification 
in heaft and life. We know that the word sancti- 
fied means, in its primary significance, to set apart 
or to devote to a religious purpose. In this sense 
the word would apply to the brute creation, to the 
setting apart of sacred vessels, and to other inani- 
mate objects, for concerning them holiness, in its 
deepest meaning, cannot be affirmed. The term 
may be used also in this primary sense of entirely 
holy beings, for as already holy they cannot be set 
apart, or sanctified, in the sense of increasing their 
holiness. The deeper meaning of the word is to 
make holy. This thought leads us, of course, to 
very much higher ground than mere ceremonial 
cleansing, purification, or consecration. This mean- 
ing leads us in the text far above the mere separa- 
tion of the disciples to an official work. It refers 
to internal holiness, and not simply to external 
consecration. Christian men and women need for 
Christian service sanctification in both these senses. 
Those who are outwardly consecrated to the serv- 
ice of God need internal holiness to make their 
outward consecration serviceable to God and help- 
ful to men. In Christian experience, therefore, 
both meanings of the word are appropriately united. 
The meaning in this text, without any doubt, is 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 6 1 

to make holy in the high spiritual sense of the 
term. The apostles already had the outward con- 
secration ; they now needed inward and increasing 
holiness. All Christian men and women need to 
be separated more and more from the world, and 
be more and more consecrated to God in body, 
sou], and spirit. They need a personal faith in 
the crucified Christ, and a daily renunciation of 
sin. True believers already possess this grace, 
but they long for its fuller manifestation. They 
hunger and thirst after righteousness ; they long 
to become like their Lord and Master, Jesus 
Christ ; and they can never be satisfied with their 
present attainments. The man who believes that 
he has attained to perfect sanctification shows by 
that belief that he has very inadequate ideas of 
what perfect sanctification means. However high 
his attainments in the Christian life are to-day, 
the true Christian longs to make them higher to- 
morrow. Like the Apostle Paul, he does not 
presume to have already attained nor to be already 
perfect ; but, like him also, forgetting the things 
that are behind, he presses forward toward the 
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus. If any one might claim perfection 
in Christian character, that man surely was the 
Apostle Paul. He is a bold man who will lay 
claim to a degree of holiness which the Apostle 
Paul did not claim to have attained. Who may 
expect to surpass him in glowing love, in fervent 
zeal, and in a whole-hearted consecration to the 



62 THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

service of Jesus Christ ? Who may claim to have 
more exalted views of God and to live nearer to 
God than this same apostle ? Men who claim to 
have attained to perfection are in great danger of 
lowering the standard of perfection. This they 
are much more likely to do than to exalt their 
own character to the likeness of Christ's. 

We thus see that sanctifi cation is a progressive 
grace. Justification is a completed act ; sanctifi- 
cation is a progressive experience. The moment 
we believe in Jesus Christ we are justified by faith 
in him ; and simultaneously with the act of justi- 
fication the grace of sanctification begins. It will 
continue throughout life. One may not say to 
what heights it is possible for a true believer to 
attain even while on the earth. He becomes a 
partaker of the divine nature, as the Scripture 
distinctly affirms ; but the day is coming when he 
shall see Christ as he is, and be made like unto 
him in all the glory of his perfect character and 
spotless holiness. Christ's prayer in this petition 
is that the grace of sanctification already begun 
may be continued, confirmed, and completed. As 
Christ is the author of the good work, so he will 
also be the finisher of the perfect character. He 
will gloriously complete that which he has gra- 
ciously begun. Not to advance in the Christian 
life is to retrograde ; no duty therefore is more im- 
perative than that of making progress. Standing 
still is absolutely impossible. Every Christian is 
like a man on a bicycle — he must go on or go off. 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 63 

and that very soon. To grow in grace is both a 
duty and a privilege. The man who stops grow- 
ing intellectually, immediately begins to die intel- 
lectually. The same law holds true in the spiritual 
life. All the figures applied by Christ and the 
apostles to the Christian life imply growth therein, 
as the one conclusive evidence of the existence of 
the Christian life. In this glorious springtime, if 
there is a tree which gives no sign whatever of 
pulsing life or bud or leaf, we are warranted in af- 
firming that it has no life. Growth is a proof of 
life. One difference between a living tree and a 
post is that the tree grows, the post does not. 
When our Lord spoke of the leaven and the 
meal, and of the grain of mustard seed, the idea 
of growth and enlargement was as fully accepted 
as inherent life was assumed. 

This thought gives significance to the exhorta- 
tion to young believers to desire the sincere milk 
of the word. It is affirmed that they are to grow 
thereby. The time will come when they will de- 
sire the strong meat of the word. The idea of 
growth also underlies the striking comparison of 
the path of the just to the shining light. That 
light shines more and more ; it grows brighter and 
brighter even unto perfect day. All the figures 
used by the Apostle Paul and drawn from the 
race-course and from the various athletic games, 
teach the same lesson of growth. Thank God, 
the day will come when the light will reach its 
meridian splendor ; the day will come when God 



64 THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

will crown our struggling Christian lives with the 
perfection and beauty of holiness. He will not 
leave uncompleted the glorious work which he has 
lovingly begun. As it is God who justifies, so it 
is God who sanctifies. We are to soar upward 
and still upward, until we see Christ as he is and 
are made like unto him in all the glory of his 
divine humanity, in all the attainments of his in- 
tellectuality, and in all the immaculate holiness of 
his pure and heavenly character. 

We thus plainly see that our sanctification is to 
be a perfected grace. This thought is found 
throughout our Lord's wonderful prayer, of which 
this text is a petition. That prayer is the true 
Lord's Prayer. What we so often call by that 
name is, strictly speaking, the disciple's prayer. 
Our Lord does not here pray to the Father in our 
sense of the term. He makes no confession of 
sin ; he had no sins to confess. His prayer is the 
expression of his will to his Father on terms of 
conscious equality, rather than the petition of an 
inferior to his superior. Marvelous is the prayer, 
taken as a whole ; it leads us to the heart of God. 
It flows on in language as simple and plain as it is 
profound and lofty. It introduces us into the very 
holy of holies of the gospel history. Throughout 
his prayer for his people Christ clearly implies that 
he desires them to be cleansed from every stain of 
moral impurity. They are yet to be without spot 
or wrinkle or any such thing ; he is to present 
them blameless unto his Father and ours. Even 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 65 

now they are to be unspotted from the world. 
They are to gain the victory over the world ; al- 
though now in it they are not to be of it ; it is to 
be beneath their feet. A ship is not injured by 
being in water, but it is greatly injured, and may 
be utterly destroyed, by having the water come 
into it. To be in the water is its natural place, 
but to have the water in large degree in it is to 
fail of the purpose of its creation. In like man- 
ner Christians are to be in the world, but the 
world is not to be in them, at least to any great 
degree. The world would suffer, and perhaps be 
destroyed, if Christians were taken from it ; they 
are a preserving element amid the forces for evil 
in the world to-day. Christians are here to fight 
God's battles with the foes of truth and righteous- 
ness. They are the salt of the earth ; they are 
the light of the world. Without them the world 
would be in darkness, and would speedily hasten 
to utter destruction. It is possible for them to 
gain the victory over the world even while they are 
engaged in its affairs. This victory is a glorious 
attainment; it is a transcendent triumph. Body, 
soul, and spirit are to be wholly sanctified to God, 
and to be earnestly used in the service of men. 
This three-fold sanctification is the aim, the ideal, 
the goal of Christian endeavor. In all its deep 
significance it may not be realized ; but the loftier 
the ideal, the loftier the actual ; for as are our 
ideals so in large part shall we ourselves become. 
We may not lower the divine standard ; we must 

E 



66 THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

forever press onward and upward toward the high- 
est possible attainments in the Christian hfe. 

We have, in the second place, in this text a divine 
instrumentality, or meditcm — " Thy truths Chris- 
tians are to be sanctified through God's truth, or 
perhaps we ought to translate the clause, '' in thy 
truth." If we adopt this latter rendering the idea 
will be that the word of God is the element or 
medium, the atmosphere, in which this sanctifying 
process takes place. True Christians are repre- 
sented here as living and moving in the word of 
God for the growth of their spiritual life, as they 
live in and breathe the natural air for the growth 
of their physical life. God's word is thus a 
medium or means of sanctification. God's truth 
transforms the character of those who incorporate 
that truth into their life and soul. It is a blessed 
thing for Christians to live in the atmosphere or 
environment of divine truth. God has unexhausted 
and inexhaustible resources ; he is not limited to 
any one instrumentality for the growth of his chil- 
dren in likeness to himself. He is not limited in 
the use of means, but in his infinite wisdom he 
has chosen to employ means to accomplish his 
purposed ends. We may be sure that the means 
he employs are the best adapted for the accom- 
plishment of the ends which he designs. God 
never wastes power; he never needlessly multi- 
plies miracles. There is evermore a close relation 
between the means he employs and our deepest 
needs which he intends to supply. His word 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 6/ 

must be incorporated into our souls ; it must be 
masticated by our spiritual natures; it must be- 
come assimilated to our spiritual bone, blood, and 
marrow. In this way we receive the thoughts of 
God into our thoughts, the life of God into our 
life, and the very heart and soul of God, if one 
may so speak, into the center of our mental and 
moral natures. 

It is a marvelous, almost an ineffable, thought 
that sinful men and women can come into this 
close relation and divine fellowship with the pure 
and holy God. Our blessed Lord has emphasized 
the possibility of this intimate and vital union. 
He is the divine and heavenly vine ; we are the 
human but genuine branches from the divine 
stem ; and the divine sap and life pass to the tip 
of every leaf for the ripening of the luscious fruit. 
Separated from the living vine we become lifeless ; 
united to this vine we ourselves become the 
possessors of a divine and eternal life. God's 
word is the channel or medium, the instrument, 
by which true sanctification is to be received by us 
and to be manifested through us unto the world. 
We must bear in mind that while the word is the 
instrument which the Spirit commonly employs, 
the word of itself cannot sanctify us to the service 
of God or to likeness to his character. The word 
rightly understood is the seed of the new birth ; 
it is the food of the new life in Christ. The word 
is the incarnation of the thought of God ; when 
we truly receive the word, we receive the thought 



68 THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

which it embodies. Community of thought with 
God results in likeness of character with God. 
All true Christians know by a blessed experience 
that the word properly understood is efficient in 
producing likeness to God in our character and 
life. The psalmist affirms that he hid God's word 
in his heart that he might not sin against God ; 
and in so doing he put the best thing in the best 
place and for the best purpose. All true students 
of the Bible have found that it was a compass to 
guide them over the sea of life, however numerous 
were the rocks and however dense the fogs. 
Neglecters of the Bible could add their testimony 
showing how much they lose by opposition, or even 
indifference, to the thought of God as revealed in 
the word of God. The Bible is a self -evidencing 
power which all its true students constantly ex- 
perience. If the light of God's Holy Spirit shines 
upon God's Holy word, God's thoughts will be 
seen in all the tenderness of their love, in all the 
grandeur of their majesty, and in much of the 
divinity of their divine author. Happy are we 
when God's word is the channel through which 
God speaks to us in direction and command, and 
through which we speak to God in supplication 
and confession, in prayer and in praise. Let us 
feed on this divine manna ; let our souls rejoice in 
this channel of communication between sinful men 
and a Holy God, and let the voice of God ever 
sound through his revealed word, rebuking our sins 
and calming our fears, increasing our faith, multi- 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 69 

plying our hopes, and quickening our zeal for the 
salvation of men and for the honor of Christ. 

We have here^ in the last place, a divine defini- 
tion — " Thy word is truths This is a blessed 
definition. Perhaps the disciples, and perhaps also 
Jesus, had in mind the sad condition out of which 
sprang the sneering inquiry of Pilate, "■ What is 
truth.?" Jesus therefore, adds, "thy word is 
truth." The literal translation is still more force- 
ful, ''The word that is thine is truth." Christ 
must mean just what he said when he uttered 
these words. Christ is the soul of truth as a 
revelation from God, and as the chief object of 
desire among men. All men should desire truth 
above all besides. The question with us ought 
not to be concerning the new theology or the old 
theology, but only concerning the true theology. 
Truth is the daughter of God ; truth is the child 
of eternity ; truth is the inheritor of eternal life. 
It matters not by what messenger it is brought or 
from what source it come, truth is truth forever- 
more. Truth ought to be welcomed by us even 
though it destroys our traditions and shatters our 
conventional beliefs. Truth never can contradict 
itself. What God has spoken in one department 
of revelation must harmonize with what God 
speaks in all other forms of revelation. God's 
truth is the end of all strife. More than truth no 
man can ask ; with less than truth no man ought 
to be satisfied. Doubtless the language of Christ 
here refers to the word of God as given in the 



JO THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The 
Holy Scriptures are the fullest revelation of the 
truth of God that the world has received. God's 
thoughts are made known in his works as truly 
but not as clearly as in his word. Creation and 
revelation are but different books in the one great 
volume. God's thoughts are written in earth and 
air and sea and sky ; but they are written with the 
utmost fullness, clearness, and blessedness in the 
book which the world calls, because of its super- 
lative excellence, the Bible. This book speaks 
often of God's truth and will, of which it is an 
embodiment. It frequently refers to the power- 
ful influence of the truth which it reveals. In the 
one hundred and nineteenth Psalm, that psalm 
which through one hundred and seventy-six verses 
repeats, in various forms of expression, blessed 
things of the law of God, we have illustrations of 
the power of God's truth to guide us in life's per- 
plexities and to glorify God in all his providences. 
The reference here is thus not strictly to the 
personal Logos or Word as a title of Jesus Christ ; 
it is rather to the truth or teaching of God as 
found in the written word — truth communicated by 
men and still more fully by Christ himself. But 
in its highest significance the reference is to Jesus 
Christ as the incarnate Word. He is the embodi- 
ment of truth ; he is king in the realm of truth. 
This statement is based on his own language as 
spoken to Pilate. Jesus Christ did not deny that 
he was a king ; he was not a king in the sense in 



THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH /I 

which Pilate understood the words, but in the vast 
realm of truth he is king, and to us he is the incar- 
nation of truth and of God. 

The text gives us not only a true definition but 
a choice definition of truth. Thousands are asking 
to-day as Pilate asked, in his day, what is truth ? 
Sometimes they are ready to give up the quest in 
despair ; sometimes they multiply falsities in their 
mistaken endeavors to discover the verities of 
God's revelation to men. One is never sadder 
than when he sees men giving up the search after 
truth and sinking into indifference, hopelessness, 
and falsity. Thank God, there is a truth that is 
enduring, pure, and divine. Thank God that 
Jesus Christ has made himself known as the way, 
the truth, and the life. We are told that the poet 
Tennyson in the pavement of the entrance hall to 
one of his homes had in encaustic tiles this motto : 
"Truth against the world." This motto is older 
far than the days of Tennyson. It is worthy of 
being written on the page of every volume, at the 
head of every sermon, and over the door of every 
heart. Happy are they who seek and who find 
truth. Finely did Pythagoras say : ^' That if God 
were to render himself visible to men, he would 
choose light for his body and truth for his soul." 
Jesus Christ is the word; Jesus Christ is the truth; 
they who accept him as their Prophet to instruct 
them, their Priest to atone for them, and their 
King to command them, shall walk in truth's high- 
way. They shall have the best of guides, and the 



72 THE SANCTIFYING TRUTH 

best of companions, and they shall at the last reach 
the gate of that city of which it is said : " And there 
shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, 
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh 
a lie ; but they which are written in the Lamb's 
book of life." 



THE BURNING BUSH 



And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in afiame 
of fire out of the inidst of a bush; and he looked, and, be- 
hold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not con- 
sumed. — Exod. J : 2. 



FOR long and weary years the oppression of 
Israel had been in progress. Doubtless it 
sometimes seemed to the people of God that God 
was deaf, or blind, or even dead ; to them the 
heavens seemed brass and the earth iron. But 
the time had now come for God to reveal himself 
to his people. The darkest hour was before the 
dawn. During these weary years the deliverer was 
growing up and was receiving divine training for 
his heroic career. 

The life of Moses is divided into three equal 
parts of forty years each. The first of these pe- 
riods was spent at the court of Pharaoh receiving 
training in all the learning of Egypt ; the second 
was spent in the wilderness of Midian ; and the 
third in leading the children of Israel from 
Egyptian bondage to the confines of the land of 
Canaan. 

But little is said in Scripture regarding the 
forty years spent in the land of Midian. Moses 
himself is the narrator of the events of that period, 
and he does not give us the details of his life 
during his humble retirement. He was simply a 
shepherd during this period of forty years ; his 
days, doubtless, passed quietly away in the per- 
formance of his routine duties, and in what men 

75 



76 THE BURNING BUSH 

ordinarily judge a lowly occupation. His shepherd 
life was in marked contrast with his life in Egypt. 
Then he was a courtier, familiar with the ways of 
kings ; now he was a shepherd, familiar with flocks 
and pastures. Then he was surrounded by all the 
splendors of royalty; now he walked amid the 
rough places of the desert. Then he was honored 
by his superiors and served by his inferiors ; now 
he was exposed to heat and cold and lived on the 
coarsest fare. Then he was the companion of 
princes ; now his companions were shepherds and 
sheep. He voluntarily made the change ; he hero- 
ically chose the reproach of Christ rather than the 
pleasures of sin. Never was he so happy in tread- 
ing the marble palaces of Egypt as he was in 
traversing the rocky deserts of Midian. He slept 
better on the ground under the shelter of a tent 
than he did on couches of state in palaces of 
marble. 

In desert places God has often spoken his 
sweetest and sublimest truths to his servants. 
Our hurried lives give us too few opportunities for 
quiet thought and for divine fellowship. "A lodge 
in some vast wilderness " may be a school for ac- 
quiring divine knowledge and sanctified wisdom. 
Many a man has found the retirement which a 
slight illness necessitates, to be one of the most 
fruitful experiences of his life. Dr. Francis Way- 
land tells us that he never learned so much of 
God's word, and never rejoiced so greatly in its 
truths as when he studied it on a bed of illness. 



THE BURNING BUSH JJ 

It seems to be one of God's methods of training 
his great servants that they should have a period of 
retirement to study themselves and to study himself. 
John Knox found such opportunities for study when 
he was a prisoner in the French galleys. Luther 
found it in the monastery and the Wartburg when 
he learned both the weakness and the strength of 
the system of Romanism which he was so largely 
to destroy. William the Silent, at the court of 
Philip the Second, went through an experience 
not unlike that of Luther. The Apostle Paul had 
to spend three years in Arabia before he was ready 
for his great work. Elijah found his retirement 
at Cherith and later in Horeb. John the Bap- 
tist came forth from the wilderness as a forerunner 
of Jesus the Christ. 

Moses learned wonderful lessons during those 
silent years. Pie communed with God face to 
face ; he was lifted above all mean and selfish 
motives ; he lived in a heavenly atmosphere. The 
barren desolation was to him an invaluable school, 
in the silence of this solitude God's voice alone 
could be heard. Some think that at this time he 
wrote the ninetieth Psalm. He certainly was a 
poet as well as a statesman, lawgiver, and prophet. 
The archaic majesty of the psalm is in entire har- 
mony with its Mosaic authorship, but it is more 
likely that he wrote it near the close of the pil- 
grimage in the wilderness. 

Moses learned more in many practical ways 
during his sojourn in Midian than during his forty 



78 THE BURNING BUSH 

years in Egypt. He acquired hardihood of body, 
self-reliance of soul, mastery of himself, and sublime 
trust in God. This period of enforced retirement, 
however, was not without its trials. The years 
were passing, and health and vigor would soon 
decline. Is this the only life that God intends for 
this heroic soul ? Had God no other meaning in 
the long training at the court of Egypt ? Was he 
trained at that court simply that he might keep 
sheep .? Questions like these must have agitated 
the soul of Moses ; but for long years the silence 
was unbroken by any voice from above calling him 
to nobler work. But that work was now to be as- 
signed him by God. God was training him for 
the foremost place in the leadership of Israel. 
God was training him for the foremost place in the 
whole history of the Israelitish nation. God was 
training him to be one of the greatest men the 
world has ever produced. Perhaps David is the' 
greatest hero of Israel to Israelites ; but Moses is 
certainly to the other nations the most command- 
ing figure Israel has presented to the world. 
Among his other elements of greatness was the 
meekness which he showed in the wilderness, and 
which he will now show when God's call comes. 
Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible ; 
only the man who sees the invisible can do the 
impossible. The patience of Moses was a marked 
element of his power. Patience is genius. His 
modesty was as beautiful as his endurance wa? 
heroic. 



THE BURNING BUSH 79 

But the time is now coming when Moses must 
enter a larger sphere of duty. The second period 
of forty years is drawing to a close. He now 
comes to the back side of the desert. This was, 
doubtless, a place of good pasturage ; perhaps that 
was the chief thought in the mind of Moses at the 
moment. It is sublime to see a man move all un- 
consciously, but still under divine guidance, to the 
gateway of a marvelous opportunity, of a sublime 
history, and of a glorious immortality. Oftener 
than we know we stand at some such door, but 
are unfitted by character and training to enter the 
possibly rough, but certainly noble pathway. The 
traditional spot of the great experience in the life 
of Moses is in the vale of Hobab on the north 
side of Jebel Musa ; the convent of St. Catherine 
now stands on the supposed place, and the altar is 
said to be on the site of the burning bush. Per- 
haps, as Josephus says, it was the loftiest of all 
the mountains in that region. There was a popular 
belief that this mountain was the dwelling-place of 
the deity, and it is said that the shepherds feared 
to approach it. On this mountain was an acacia 
tree, a thorn tree, of the desert. It was but a 
lowly tree ; its tangled branches spread out over 
the rocky ground. Moses approaches this sacred 
spot. The rocky ground becomes holy ; the shep- 
herd must remove his sandals ; he must comport 
himself as if on the threshold of a palace or of a 
temple. Immediately the bush is seen to be 
aflame ; already the mount is called the Mount of 



80 THE BURNING BUSH 

God, from the signal displays of divine power 
about to be narrated. The first effect of flame is 
to consume, but this fire although wrapping the 
lowly shrub in a garment of flame does not burn. 
It is this fact that so arrests the attention of Moses. 
He must turn aside to see what is the meaning of 
this ''great sight." 

It was not a created angel who now communicated 
with Moses in this marvelous way. He is called 
the Lord, or as it is in the original, ''Jehovah" ; 
and later in the chapter some of the most expres- 
sive attributes of deity are applied to him. He is 
an angel simply in the sense of being a messenger. 
He was the messenger of the covenant, and this 
messenger was none other than Jesus Christ the 
leader of Israel and the Redeemer of all believers. 
Fire was among the Hebrews a symbol of deity. 
God accompanied the Israelites afterward as a 
pillar of fire by night, and a sword of fire guarded 
the gates of Eden. In a chariot of fire Elijah 
went up to glory and to God. Probably the pillar 
of fire which accompanied Israel became the sym- 
bol of God between the cherubim in the Holy of 
Holies. This idea of fire as representing deity 
was illustrated on the day of Pentecost in the 
tongues of fire that rested over the heads of the 
disciples. Applied to spiritual things the fuel for 
fire is moral evil. Spiritual fire does not create 
but reveals purity. This idea lies at the bottom 
of the whole system of Zoroaster. The Parsees 
affirm that they do not worship fire, but regard it 



THE BURNING BUSH 8 1 

simply as the symbol of deity. There are among 
them traditions that while Zoroaster was in the 
retirement of a mountain he saw the whole moun- 
tain aflame, but that he came out of the midst of 
the flame without injury and that he then offered 
sacrifices to God. Even the Greek dramatists 
and poets speak of the deity as ^' formless and im- 
petuous fire." When the promise of Israel's de- 
liverance out of Egypt was given to Abraham he 
saw a burning lamp. Perhaps this lamp signified 
the light of joy which that deliverance should 
bring ; but now that the deliverance is nearer and 
the promise is about to be fulfilled the light be- 
came brighter, enveloping the bush in its fiery em- 
brace. In flame God manifested his glory in the 
giving of the law. This mountain was afterward to 
become famous in the history of God's people. 
Not only did he here appear now to Moses, but 
here he appeared in the giving of the law, when 
Moses fasted forty days and nights and from this 
mountain brought to the people the two tables 
of the law. Here Joshua was made to prevail over 
Amalek. Wonderful thoughts gather about the 
abrupt cliffs of this granite range. Never shall I 
forget seeing, as I sailed over the Red Sea on a 
calm Sunday afternoon, part of this Sinaitic range 
flushed as it was with a soft pink hue at times 
characteristic of that region. 

We stand for a little time with uncovered head 
and unsandaled foot beside Moses as he gazes on 
this tree aflame with the glory of God. It is no 



82 THE BURNING BUSH 

stately palm tree, no graceful olive tree, but a little 
thorn or acacia. It glows with flame, but it is not 
burned. We listen with sacred awe to the divine 
voice which Moses heard. The Lord announces 
his great name. He does not make himself known 
as the God of Levi, of Kohath, or of Amram, the 
immediate progenitors of Moses, but he makes 
himself known as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, 
and of Jacob. Wonderful are the revelations 
which he now makes to Moses of his observance 
of all the afflictions of his people. God is not 
dead; God is not blind; God is not deaf; God 
heard their cries, he saw their sorrows, and he has 
now come in mighty power and great glory for 
their deliverance. No wonder Moses hid his face 
and was afraid to look upon God. Let us learn 
some of the lessons which Moses learned, and 
which these striking incidents so fully teach us. 

Firsts we learii that fire is an emblem of the deity. 
This thought we have already touched upon as 
related to Israel and to some other nations. There 
is a sense in which God is still a consuming fire. 
He destroys moral evil with the consuming flame 
of his purity and power. He still puts his chosen 
ones into the fiery furnace that their dross may be 
consumed and their gold refined. The purity of 
his law is still as fire as it was at Mt. Sinai in its 
opposition to sin and all its works. There still 
comes a fire out from before the Lord to consume 
evil and its deadly fruits. God still puts his 
chosen into the furnace of trial heated seven times 



THE BURNING BUSH 83 

hot, but he never deserts his chosen ; he designs 
to bring us into sweet conformity to his holy and 
righteous will. We shall learn to say with the be- 
loved Whittier, even when passing through fiery 
trials : 

If from thy ordeal' s heated bars 
Our feet are seamed with crimson scars, 
Thy will be done. 

Second) the burning bush was a symbol of the 
oppressions, and the flaming fire of the oppressors ^ 
of God's people. The bush was itself a lowly 
one ; that fact is not without significance. God's 
people in Egypt were lowly in the esteem of their 
Egyptian taskmasters. The bush was burning, but 
it was not burned ; although lambent tongues of 
flame licked its branches, these branches were not 
consumed. This tree aflame finely sets forth the 
condition of Israel in Egypt. The people were 
afflicted by the violence of their foes, but they 
were not thereby destroyed. They were oppressed, 
afflicted, and tormented with cruel bondage, but 
they still multiplied ; though but as a briar or 
bramble or thorn bush, they still lived and grew. 
Naturally the fire would immediately destroy this 
lowly shrub ; as in the case before Moses the fact 
that the bush was not burned arrested his attention, 
so the symbol before us ought to arrest our at- 
tention. We, like Moses, should manifest a sancti- 
fied curiosity. We, like Moses, should desire to 
be taught of God the lessons which the symbol is 



84 THE BURNING BUSH 

intended to set forth. God is often near us, but 
we see him not ; he speaks, but we do not recognize 
his voice. Such a manifestation as this is intended 
to emphasize great moral truths and dutiesl God 
spoke to Jacob to encourage him to go down into 
Egypt. Now after two hundred years he speaks 
to Moses to encourage him to go to Egypt to 
bring his people out of bondage. We have sinned 
and God's wrath must flame out against us, but 
God speaks to us in the gospel, informing us of the 
great Deliverer. As God walked with his three 
faithful servants in the fiery furnace, and they 
were not consumed, so he still walks with his peo- 
ple for their protection and deliverance. His 
church often since has been in the flames of fierce 
persecution. He permitted the fires of pagan 
and papal Rome to be kindled against his believing 
people, but the Lollards, the Albigenses, the 
Huguenots, and the Covenanters were not destroyed 
by the fierce flame. Noble souls trod the valleys 
and climbed the hills of Scotland, sometimes 
wrapped by God in the mists of the mountains to 
hide them from their savage foes. Beautiful is 
the motto chosen by the Church of Scotland, and 
suggested by the flaming bush seen by Moses : 
'' Nee tamen consumebatiir'' 

Thirds this bush of flame is the symbol of the 
children of Israel even to this day. They have 
been despised and persecuted by every nation 
under heaven, but they still live and prosper. 
They are strangers in foreign lands ; they have no 



THE BURNING BUSH 85 

flag, no government, no country, except the flags, 
the governments, and the countries under which 
and in which they find a home. One would have 
said that long ago they would perish from the earth 
or become amalgamated with those about them. 
But not so; they still live as a separate people 
among many peoples. They still maintain dis- 
tinctive characteristics of face and faith ; they 
have survived the lapse of ages; and they have 
performed important parts in the history, the litera- 
ture, and the civilization of the world. They have 
long been burning, but are still unburned. God 
undoubtedly has yet some great design for his 
chosen people. Assuredly they are yet to be 
grafted into their own olive tree. Perhaps they 
have neither thought nor desire of going back to 
the land of Israel. Those in America find their 
promised land in the enjoyment of the liberty 
granted to all nations under our flag. We cannot 
but believe that God is still with them ; that God 
still remembers his covenant with their fathers and 
that he will fulfill his great purposes in the case of 
his people. This symbol finds its illustration also 
in the case of individual believers ; they have been 
tempted and tried in all the years of their history, 
but they still live as witnesses of God's sustaining 
grace. God's church will never be destroyed ; the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against her ; she 
has often been in the wilderness ; she has often 
prophesied in sackcloth ; she has often suffered 
bonds and imprisonment as a witness for Christ, 



86 THE BURNING BUSH 

but God is in the midst of his church, she shall 
not be moved. " When thou passest through the 
waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, 
they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest 
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; neither 
shall the flame kindle upon thee." 

Fourthy we may learn sweet lessons from the 
great name which God gave himself in his com- 
munication to Moses — ^^ I am that I am'' It was 
necessary that Moses should have authority for the 
great mission on which he was to enter ; and he 
must be able to cite that authority as the justifi- 
cation for his appeal to Pharaoh. God has made 
himself known in his word by many names. 
When he appeared to Abraham he called himself 
El Shaddai, God Almighty. This name indicated 
that he was infinitely able to fulfill the promise 
made to Abraham of a son in his old age. On 
other occasions he called himself the Most High, 
the Ancient of Days, Jehovah, and by still other 
titles equally significant. These names were pre- 
cursors of a fuller revelation of God's character ; 
each new title brought out a new element in God's 
character appropriate to the existing necessity of 
his people. 

He now gives a definite answer to the definite 
question asked by Moses. The literal translation 
is "I will be that I will be." He thus reveals 
himself as the Existing One, as the Eternal, who 
is without beginning of life or end of days. This 
new title thus denotes the underived, eternal, and 



THE BURNING BUSH 8/ 

unchangeable existence of the great Being to 
whom it is applied. It also sets forth God, who 
eternally is in opposition to the pretended deities 
of the Egyptians. They were vanity, they were 
a nonentity; he is a reality, he is an eternal truth. 
As such he can fulfill every promise made to 
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and now to 
Moses. With marvelous power this name must 
have come to Pharaoh, as setting forth a self- 
existent and immutable God, in opposition to the 
idols of Egypt. The future tense in this name 
has the force of a continuous present. There 
may be, strictly speaking, a grammatical anomaly 
in the name; but when God reveals his name, he 
may well also reveal a new grammatical law. This 
is his memorial name unto all generations. Beauti- 
fully is the truth of this name brought out in the 
words of the psalm : '' Thy name, O Jehovah, 
endureth forever, and thy memorial, O Jehovah, 
unto all generations." 

These words would give alarm to Pharaoh, joy 
to Israel, and assurance to Moses. The God who 
ever lived would ever be mindful of his chosen. 
Moses was now armed with a name of potency 
and majesty. He now could speak with the 
authority of the Almighty. In that same mighty 
name we find refuge. The Lord Christ took up 
the thought of this name when he said : " Before 
Abraham was, I AM ;" and ''Lo, I AM with you 
unto the end of the world." The Jesus of the 
New Testament is the Jehovah, the- great I AM 



88 THE BURNING BUSH 

of the Old Testament. May we ever find by 
sweet experience the blessedness of those to whom 
the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and who 
running to him are saved forevermore ! 

This name of God is full of instruction for us, 
as used by our Lord to prove the doctrine of our 
immortality. He taught us that God was the 
God, not of the dead, but of the living; and in 
proving that point he described him as the God of 
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This is a won- 
derfully sublime name ; this is a gloriously beauti- 
ful doctrine. In that name let us sweetly rest ; 
the name of our Prophet, Priest, and King; the 
name of him who is our deliverer from bondage 
worse than that of Egypt ; the name of him who 
pitieth like a father and comforteth like a mother. 
May we ever be ready with a holy curiosity to 
turn aside, like Moses, to see the presence and to 
hear the voice of God even in the ordinary duties 
of life ! Then shall we find that every lowly bush 
on life's highway is aflame with the glory of God 
and voiceful with its command of God to his 
obedient disciples. 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 



To every man his work. — Mark ij : 34. 



VI 



THIS text teaches us clearly that God has a 
plan for every life. Far back in the coun- 
cils of eternity the life-work of each man and 
woman was appointed. Each life is taken up into 
the thoughts and purposes of God. Between each 
man and all others there is a dividing line that is 
deep, high, and broad. Personality is immortal. 
" To every man his work " — not your work, not 
my work, but his work — is God's law. Each man 
must do his own work, or that work must remain 
undone to all eternity. No other man can do it. 
Each day has its own duty ; so has each person 
for each day and each hour. Christ distinctly 
said, " I must work the works of him that sent 
me, while it is day ; the night cometh, when no 
man can work." As there is a special work for 
each man, so there is a special time in which 
that work must be done, and when that special 
time has passed the work cannot be done. Per- 
mit me to specify some of those whose allotted 
task is easily understood by us all. 

I. To the pastor God gives his work. God has 
called him to an exalted sphere of service. No 
sphere is higher ; no labor is nobler. Angels 
would feel honored in being permitted to preach 
the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Gabriel 

91 



92 THE ALLOTTED TASK 

would willingly come to any pulpit in this city, did 
God so command or permit. The Apostle Paul 
magnified his office. Every true pastor may and 
ought to be in this form of apostolic succession. 
While we are not unduly to exalt the work of the 
ministry, we may truthfully say, that no other 
work gives greater joy to the worker, or greater 
glory to God. The true pastor is not to be simply 
a man of society ; he is not to be simply a man 
of affairs. He is in the world and has to do with 
its various obligations as a Christian citizen. These 
obHgations he dare not neglect without being dis- 
loyal to his country, his church, and his God. But 
all the while he must realize that he is above the 
world, while he is in it and is discharging its obliga- 
tions. 

The true pastor is not to be simply a great 
scholar. A scholar he must be, if he is a loyal 
pupil in the school of Christ ; but whatever scholar- 
ship he possesses he holds in trust for the greater 
honor of Christ and the better service of men. 
His scholarship is to be sanctified to the honor of 
his Lord and the salvation of the souls of men. 
Everything that he has and does must be held and 
done under the inspiration of the constraining love 
of Christ, and for the salvation of the lost. He 
preaches not himself, but his Lord ; he seeks not 
men's things, but their souls. He is to strive to 
build them up into the likeness of his Lord and 
Master, and to present them at the last without 
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, in the presence 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 93 

of God and to the glory of Christ. Beautiful as 
were the cups which the Spanish artist placed in 
his painting of the Last Supper, they became an 
object of disfigurement when they diverted the 
attention of the spectator from the Lord himself. 
Then the cups were no longer ornamental but 
detrimental. The artist was right when he seized 
his brush and blotted these cups from the canvas, 
that the figure of Christ might be the only object 
of attraction. Quaintly and rightly has it been 
said that Christ " must be the diamond to shine on 
the bosom of all our sermons." 

2. God gives to the professional scholar his per- 
sonal work. The true scholar loves and seeks for 
truth. He is truth's willing and joyous slave. He 
welcomes truth from whatever quarter it comes and 
by whatsoever messenger it is brought. Truth is 
the daughter of God, and the prophetess of all true 
progress in the world. Never is man so great and 
so free as when he bows in lowly reverence at the 
feet of Jesus Christ who is king in the vast realm 
of truth. Nothing is more certain than that in 
the end truth shall prevail over every form of evil 
and error. Truth is a great stronghold erected 
and fortified by God, and no enemy shall be able 
long to hold it. Scholarship is always a power. It 
may indeed sometimes be a power for evil rather 
than for good ; but we must strive constantly to 
make scholarship the handmaid of truth and so 
the servant of God. Sanctified scholarship is an 
inestimable power for God among men. All the 



94 THE ALLOTTED TASK 

discoveries of modern science are making it easier 
than ever before to. believe in God. We ought 
never to speak of science as opposed to revelation. 
Science is a part of revelation. God's testimonies 
in his great book of nature can never contradict 
his testimonies in his greater book of revelation, if 
only we rightly understand the testimonies in both 
books. Our interpretations may be in conflict ; 
but God's revelations must ever be in sweetesc 
harmony. If a man can write in Paris and his 
writing be instantly reproduced in London, three 
hundred and twelve miles away ; if a man can 
talk in New York and his words be instantly heard 
in Chicago, in round numbers one thousand miles 
away, who will dare say that a man cannot write 
or speak on the earth so that the great God shall 
see the written and hear the spoken words .-* If 
man can answer man one thousand miles away 
without the violation of any law of nature, but in 
harmony with laws of nature which until recently 
we did not know, who will dare say that we cannot 
talk to God and God to us without the violation of 
laws of nature, but simply in harmony with higher 
laws, whose full operation we do not yet under- 
stand .-* All true scholarship will yet lay its honors 
at the pierced feet of Jesus Christ. Science and 
revelation will yet march joyously in step to the 
music of Christ's name and shall yet cast their 
crowns before him as Lord and Master. 

An educated man is higher than an uneducated 
man. He reaches up to difficult truths, takes 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 95 

them down, simplifies them and places them be- 
fore weaker minds. It is his business to simplify 
not to mystify truth. He is only a half-educated 
man who cannot talk to plain people. The thor- 
oughly educated man has so mastered difficult 
truths that he can take them out of their technical 
terminology and give them in simplest forms to 
plainest minds. Some men get a reputation for 
being profound when they are only muddy. You 
can look twenty feet into clear water, but you can- 
not look one quarter of an inch into mud. To 
professional scholars the cause of truth is greatly 
indebted. At times churchmen have made utter 
mistakes in manifesting tendencies in opposition 
to true scholarship. Our opposition is directed 
rightly against science falsely so called ; but against 
a true science no true Christianity can ever object. 
Some evangelists and other good Christians say, 
''Let us study simply the English Bible." They 
talk against the use of commentaries and scientific 
theological study ; but such men know not whereof 
they speak. They are indebted to the broad bibli- 
cal scholarship, which they attempt to belittle, for 
the partial biblical learning which they possess. 
There would have been no English Bible for us 
but for the Hebrew and Greek scholarship of 
earlier days. We need expert and scientific, but 
always consecrated, knowledge in every depart- 
ment of inquiry. To the professional scholar 
along every line my text applies — " To every man 
his work." 



96 THE ALLOTTED TASK 

3. The teacher also has his special work. I in- 
clude the teacher in our secular as well as in our 
Sunday-schools. The teachers in our public schools 
occupy an important and responsible position. 
Too seldom do we think of them with sympathy 
and appreciation ; too seldom do we pray for them 
with intelligence and earnestness. In a city like 
New York the public school is a mighty power. 
Thousands of children are receiving in our public 
schools to-day their preparation for life. Into the 
formation of their characters the teaching and 
even the atmosphere of the public school largely 
enter. I rightly say atmosphere, for that word is 
suggestive of important truths. Very much de- 
pends on the atmosphere which a teacher creates. 
It is possible to read the Bible and to offer prayers 
in our public schools without producing much, if 
any, religious impression. The reading and the 
praying may be in a cold, mechanical, and utterly 
perfunctory spirit ; but some teachers, even though 
they never read or pray, may yet put the spirit of 
Christ into their instruction, even though they 
be teachers of mathematics, and other seemingly 
purely secular studies. All scientific studies ought 
to be conducted as revelations of the thoughts of 
God. Taught in this spirit, angles and triangles, 
sines and cosines, are parts of a divine revelation ; 
taught in- this spirit chemical affinities and repul- 
sions are truly revelations of divine design and of 
spiritual purpose. 

These truths have a still higher application to 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 9/ 

the teachers in our Sunday-schools, and in our dis- 
tinctively religious seminaries. The Bible ought 
to be a text-book in all our schools, and it is cause 
for congratulation and gratitude that it is finding 
its place in so many of the higher institutions of 
learning. It is well that we study Homer, but 
why ought we not with equal earnestness to study 
David and Isaiah ? It is well that we study Herod- 
otus, but why ought we not to study Moses, who 
is rightly what Herodotus has wrongly been called, 
^' the father of history" } It is well that we study 
Sophocles and Euripides, but why not study Job 
and his matchless personations and dramatic 
scenes } It is well that we study Plato, but why 
not the Apostle Paul, with his profound reasoning, 
his lofty argumentation, and his glowing concep- 
tion of divine and human life .? The day will come 
soon when the Bible, even though it be regarded 
chiefly as history, as poetry, as drama, in a word, 
as literature of the highest order, will have an 
honored place in all schools, seminaries, and col- 
leges. All true Sunday-school teachers are the 
assistants of the pastor. They are his yoke-fel- 
lows. They are his coadjutors; they are his joy- 
ous fellow-laborers in the vineyard of the common 
Lord and Master. To each of these God gives 
his work. 

4. The professional or business man has his work. 
The church to-day needs consecrated labor. It is 
often more difficult to get competent Bible-class 
teachers and Sunday-school superintendents than 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 



to find able pastors. We have made too broad a 
distinction between secular and sacred duties. 
Strictly speaking, such a distinction is imaginary, 
and not real. To a true child of God nothing in 
his Father's universe is profane or secular. There 
ought to be no line of cleavage between sacred 
and profane history. All history is sacred. God 
has never been absent from his universe. His 
hand is now on its great helm. He is as truly 
present to-day in the great affairs of all the na- 
tions, in guiding czars, kings, emperors, and presi- 
dents, as he was in the days of Moses, Joshua, 
David, or Solomon. His hand may have been 
more plainly seen in that early day than now, but 
it is present now as truly as it was at that time. 
We must not think of religion as belonging to 
Sundays and sanctuaries, and business as belong- 
ing exclusively to weekdays and counting houses. 
The Apostle Paul in writing to the Romans clearly 
taught us that we were to be diligent in business, 
and at the same time earnest in the service of the 
Lord. We do not put on our religion like a gar- 
ment on Sunday, and then lay it off when Sunday 
has ended. If you cannot take your religion with 
you into your business, you must have a very bad 
business, or a very poor religion, or both. In a 
true sense, every desk and counter may, in its 
place and for its purpose, be as sacred as a pulpit. 
In its place and for its purpose, every family table 
may be in some sense the Lord's table. Our re- 
ligion is not to be left in the church when our 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 99 

prayers are offered and our hymns are chanted. 
Religion is not a monk or a nun to be shut away 
in a cloister. God wants men, not monks. Jesus 
prayed that his people should not be taken out of 
the world, but simply that they should be kept 
from the evil. The world would be a sad place if 
God's people were all taken from it ; it would go 
to destruction utterly within a month. Real estate 
was not worth much in Sodom or Gomorrah when 
God held over it the cloud charged with fire and 
brimstone. Religion is a beautiful daughter, a 
noble wife, a consecrated mother. As such she 
walks out among men, causing the flowers of 
beauty, of innocence, and of fragrance to blossom 
wherever she sheds her influence, and causing the 
flowers of bigotry, immorality, and sin of every 
kind to wither wherever she plants her feet. If 
the salt of the gospel is to save the meat of the 
world, it will not do to put the salt and the meat 
into separate barrels. The whole system of mo- 
nasticism in its various phases is unchristian, is 
evil and only evil, and that continually. O busi- 
ness and professional men, I summon you to-day 
to consecrate all your professional powers, all your 
business achievements, all your social relations, to 
the service of him who has died for you, and who 
lives to crown you as his victorious followers here 
and forever hereafter. 

5. To the workingman and domestic servant 
Christ says — *' To every one his work'' God gives 
appropriate duties to men of every class and con- 



lOO THE ALLOTTED TASK 

dition. The usual social distinctions are not to be 
observed in the house of God. At God's altar 
none are rich, none are poor, none are high, none 
are low. All there are on the same level of un- 
worthiness in themselves, and of blessedness in 
their divine Redeemer. The workingman has be- 
come a tremendous power in Great Britain, in the 
United States, and throughout the world, during 
the closing decade of the nineteenth century. 
We have unduly limited the term workingman. 
Men who work with their brain and pen are as 
truly workingmen as those who work with pick or 
shovel, with hammer or plane, with axe or adze. 
In this sense, as in other senses, Jesus Christ was 
a workingman. He stood at the carpenter's bench 
and toiled through the long hours. The sweat 
beads of honest toil were on his brow and the 
hardness of manly toil was on his hands. Work- 
ingmen commit the greatest conceivable mistake 
when they turn away from Jesus Christ. He was 
their best friend ; he is their best friend still. He 
sympathizes with every true workingman and 
workingwoman. He reaches out to them the hand 
of tenderness and offers them the heart of affec- 
tion. He will be to them as the shadow of a 
great rock in a weary land and under a burning 
sun. He promises them food and raiment. Mar- 
velous is the thought that Jesus Christ was poor 
and friendless. He said with an infinite tender- 
ness that, " Foxes have holes, and birds of the air 
have nests ; but the Son of Man hath not where 



THE ALLOTTED TASK 10 1 

to lay his head." Christ would have lost much 
of his power over men if he had come into the 
world rich. He was the only man born into this 
world who had his choice as to how he should 
come. He might have come as a full-grown man, 
as did the first Adam. He chose to come as a 
babe. He might have come with kingly power 
and imperial splendor ; he chose to come in lowly 
poverty. No poor man to-day is so poor as was 
Jesus Christ ; no lonely man so friendless as was 
he. He was despised and rejected of men. He 
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 
His reference to the baking of bread and the 
mending of clothing gives us a glimpse into his 
lowly home and the employments of his mother in 
Nazareth. Think of the thousands of toiling, 
struggling women with their cares as wives and 
mothers in our great city. Jesus stands near to 
help each one. Think of the thousands of do- 
mestic servants with their manifold and monot- 
onous duties. Jesus stands near to each, assuring 
all that those who are faithful in that which is 
least, are faithful also in much. 

Think of the thousands of young women as 
stenographers, typewritists, and accountants. Jesus 
comes near to each saying to them, with reference 
to their duty, ''not with eye-service, as men 
pleasers ; but in singleness of heart, fearing God." 
There is no duty that may not be dignified and 
glorified, if it is performed with the right spirit. 
Lofty motives give lowly duties their true dignity 



102 THE ALLOTTED TASK 

and glory. The distinction often made among 
men in these regards is purely arbitrary. When 
we enter upon our work as for God, and not for 
men, that work becomes radiant with heavenly 
beauty and prophetic of heavenly glory. In our 
humblest service the beautiful words of the saintly 
George Herbert may have their full realization : 

A servant with this clause, 

Makes drudgery divine ; 
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, 

Makes that and the action fine. 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 



Brethren, 7ny hearf s desire and prayer to God for Israel 
is, that they might be saved. — Rom. jo : i. 



VII 



THE Apostle Paul was a skillful teacher. He 
knew how to be loyal to his divine Master 
and yet be loving to his Jewish brethren. He 
knew how to speak plain words, and yet to love 
with fervent desire. He could preach against his 
brethren and yet pray for his brethren. It was 
possible for him to speak the truth, and to speak 
it, as he himself exhorts all others to do, in love. 
It is a mark of noble character to combine these 
elements in our addresses to our fellow-men. The 
apostle desired to win his brethren ; he was, there- 
fore, anxious in the midst of the most emphatic 
rebukes to mingle evidences of the tenderest affec- 
tion. He had just spoken with apparent severity 
concerning his brethren. It would be difficult to 
imagine any doctrine more offensive to them than 
the doctrine he had just propounded. He knew 
well that they must have regarded him as having 
been false to his Jewish training, and to the com- 
mission which had been entrusted to him at the 
time of his abandonment of Judaism and his con- 
fession of Christ. He was engaged .under an im- 
portant appointment, because of his special fitness 
for the duty entrusted to him, at the very time 
that he abandoned the faith of his fathers. He 
knew that his own brethren must regard him as an 



I06 THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 

apostate. Since his conversion to Christianity he 
had opposed the principles which once he had 
preached, and he had rebuked the spirit of pride 
and self-righteousness of the Jewish people. He 
charged them in effect with the crime of crucify- 
ing their own Messiah. He forsook all that they 
valued in the gorgeous rites of their temple and in 
the traditional faith of their fathers. He had gone 
everywhere preaching the gospel of Christ. They 
could not doubt the sincerity of his new profes- 
sion, however bitterly they might oppose the doc- 
trine which he preached. It was most important 
that he should not arouse their opposition, but 
convince them by cool argument and win them by 
genuine affection. By nature he was tender and 
kind ; but in order to be loyal to the truth he must 
rebuke his brethren for their opposition to Christ, 
and warn them of the condemnation which their 
unbelief would certainly bring. 

He was obliged to pour out his heart in rebuke, 
but now he could no longer contain his fervent and 
tender affection. While he muses the fire burns, 
and at length his loving heart bursts forth in the 
text in the expression of this glowing desire for the 
salvation of his brethren. It is most instructive 
to watch the conflict of emotions as illustrated in 
the text and its context. No one can read these 
words without feeling the throb of the apostle's 
heart across the intervening continents and cen- 
turies. Let us examine the characteristics of this 
desire as they are given in the text. 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE IO7 

I. It is a fraternal desire — ^^ Brethren, my heart's 
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they 
might be saved." The Apostle Paul was a cos- 
mopolitan. He was also especially the apostle to 
the Gentiles, but he always gave in his preach- 
ing the first opportunity to the Jew to receive the 
blessings of the gospel. He was a Hebrew of the 
Hebrews, and there is much, as we all know, in 
blood. The Apostle Paul loved his nation with 
the fervor of a true believer and a genuine patriot, 
but he realized that the Christian is the true Jew. 
Strictly speaking, there is no contradiction between 
a true Judaism and Christianity. It is a false 
Judaism that opposes Christianity ; all true Jews 
were waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The 
Apostle Paul might be called, if I may coin a word, 
a Messiahian ; but a Messiahian is simply a Chris- 
tian. The former word is Hebrew, the latter is 
Greek, and both mean precisely the same thing. 
The true Jews are Messiahians ; and, if they but 
knew it, in so affirming they affirm also that they 
are Christians. The Apostle Paul longed for the 
coming of the Christ ; he glorified in the hope of 
the Messiah ; and he never meant to be disloyal 
to that hope. He opposed Jesus of Nazareth be- 
cause he did not understand him to be the Messiah 
of God ; but when stricken down under the blind- 
ing light on the Damascus highway, he learned in 
answer to his question, ''Who art thou, Lord.-*" 
that the Lord whom he persecuted was Jesus, and 
he gave him immediate submission and reverence. 



I08 THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 

Judaism is the root ; Christianity is the flower 
and the fruit. Judaism is simply undeveloped 
Christianity. Judaism is the gray dawn of the 
morning ; Christianity is the splendor of noonday. 
True Judaism must pass on into acknowledged 
Christianity. Judaism is the childhood of faith ; 
Christianity is its manhood. When the Apostle 
Paul became a Christian he realized the hope to- 
ward which he had always been striving. He now 
longs for the conversion of his brethren. He who 
has come into the true light cannot be satisfied to 
have his brethren remain in darkness. Perhaps 
the insertion of the word '' Israel " in the text is 
not warranted by the most authoritative manu- 
scripts ; but the fraternity of the apostle's desire is 
fully emphasized in his use of the word brethren^ 
with which the text begins. There is a sanctified 
patriotism ; and to that patriotism we have a right 
to appeal in urging the claims of the gospel of 
Christ. The apostle in making this affectionate 
appeal to his brethren, wishes to destroy any un- 
favorable impression which his plain words might 
have produced. He felt himself to be fully under 
the power of national feeling and of Christian affec- 
tion. This is a sentiment which all true manhood 
appreciates and desires to possess and to manifest. 
We may well appeal in our Home Mission work 
to a genuine American patriotism as an incentive 
to aggressive Christian endeavor. " North Amer- 
ica for Christ," is a noble motto. We must use 
every right endeavor to make this motto a literal 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE lOQ 

truth in our mission work. The flag of our country 
and the banner of our Lord ought ever to blend 
in sweetest and sublimest union. Our kith after 
the flesh we ought to strive to make our kin in 
Christian faith. 

2. The apostle s desire as expressed in the text 
is also a cordial desire — "Brethren, my heart's 
desire." The apostle's desire came from his 
heart; it was, therefore, honest, earnest, and sin- 
cere. The word translated ''desire" really means 
good-will or benevolence ; it is benevolence pass- 
ing over into beneficence. This earnest desire 
gives us the apostle's motive in so addressing his 
brethren and in laboring for their salvation. Not 
all who are interested in the salvation of men are 
influenced by this high motive. There may be 
simply a professional desire for the conversion of 
those about us. Doubtless there are times when 
Sunday-school teachers, evangelists, pastors, and 
others, are largely influenced by what may be called 
a professional desire to secure and to report a large 
number of conversions. One does not wish to 
pass harsh judgment on his fellow-men, but one 
can readily see that they may at times be influ- 
enced, even when engaged in the highest work, by 
personal and professional motives. The quality of 
our work must depend largely upon the motive 
which governs our acts and aims. We must strive 
to perform our best services under the influence 
of the highest motives. Against this professional 
danger we must constantly strive. The Apostle 



I lO THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 

Paul rose far above any personal advantage or pro- 
fessional ambition when he poured out his heart 
in the affectionate words of the text. Out of his 
heart's desire his pen wrote in this letter to the 
Romans. It is because his words came from the 
heart that after the lapse of these centuries they 
still reach the hearts of his readers. Heart ever- 
more responds to heart. All Christian workers 
must be right in their hearts with God, and they 
will not be wrong in their efforts with men. 

There may be, also, simply a duteous desire for 
the conversion of men. This desire may spring 
from a higher motive than that of professional am- 
bition. It is the duty of those who are teachers 
and preachers to seek for appropriate fruits in 
their Christian labors. They cannot be indifferent 
to results — such indifference would be culpable in 
the extreme. The duteous act is performed under 
the realization of what is due, of what the position 
properly requires; it is that which is enjoined by 
duty or by the position which one may occupy. It 
is better that one should desire the conversion of 
men from this motive than be indifferent to their 
spiritual welfare, but it is a great gain when we 
pass over from that which duty requires, in the mere 
legal sense of the term, to the joy in service which 
love always secures. I do not wish, however, to 
make light of the importance of performing our 
duty irrespective of results. We must ever remem- 
ber that duties are ours, events are God's. We 
have too often in the Christian life been governed 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE I I I 

simply by feeling, by emotion, by impulse. We 
never read in Scripture that men are saved by 
feeling; we always read that they are saved by 
faith. One cannot help wishing at times that the 
word "feeling" were stricken out of our religious 
vocabulary. Many neglect all forms of religious 
duty because they are governed by feeling rather 
than by the higher law of obedience to Christ, no 
matter what their feelings are. If right feeling 
comes we may welcome it, but in any case we 
must move forward in the faithful performance of 
our duty. If duty be faithfully done, right feel- 
ing will not long be wanting ; but blessed are they 
who rise above the consciousness of performing 
duty for duty's sake and who know that they are 
constrained by Christian love. 

There may also be a mere intellectual desire 
for the conversion of our brethren. The intellect 
of the Apostle Paul was active as the intellect of 
few men ever has been ; but his intellectual activi- 
ties were sweetly submissive to the constraining 
love of Christ. When the light flashed upon him 
on his way to Damascus, new meaning was given 
to all his previous reasoning. He saw, as never 
before, the meaning of the Old Testament in its 
prophecies concerning the Christ ; he saw that all 
the ways of God's revelation converged toward 
the cross of Christ. He realized that if you take 
away the cross the Old Testament is largely mean- 
ingless ; he saw that the cross of Calvary is the 
center of the Bible; he realized that it is the 



112 THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 

pivotal point around which all the events of the 
world's history revolve. As a student of secular 
history as truly as of sacred story, he saw that he 
must build his study on Calvary. Christianity 
quickened, directed, and ennobled all his intellect- 
ual activities. He was truly the apostle of logic ; 
he was equally the apostle of love. He wrote 
under divine inspiration the masterpieces of logical 
reasoning which are found in the Epistle to the 
Romans ; but it was he also, under divine inspira- 
tion, who wrote the thirteenth chapter of first Cor- 
inthians, which has been finely called "The New 
Testament Psalm of Love." Doubtless from a 
purely intellectual point of view the apostle de- 
sired to convince others, as he had himself been 
convinced, that Jesus was the Christ ; but the de- 
sire of his heart, as expressed in the text, rose far 
above a mere intellectual victory. He was under 
the influence of the gentle and yet mighty love of 
Christ. This pure and heavenly desire gave his 
words almost irresistible power. This desire gives 
us similar power to-day. Love has a logic of its 
own ; love has a brogue that never can be imitated 
by unloving hearts. Love evokes love. The 
writer of poetry and of music must write with the 
heart if the highest results are to be secured. 

The same law applies to art of every sort ; if 
the heart is wanting, power is wanting. More 
men are reached through the heart than through 
the head. Many men put their hearts into the 
tone of the voice, into the glance of the eye, and 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE II3 

into the grasp of the hand. Men can resist the 
pulpit's attacks upon their heads when the attack 
is made simply by the arguments of cold logic; 
but men cannot long resist the appeals made to 
their hearts when these appeals come from hearts 
tender with human sympathy and glowing with 
divine love. The heart is really wiser than the 
head; the heart may see far while the head is 
totally blind. Affection is mightier than reason. 
The pulpit needs loving hearts more truly than it 
needs clear heads. In so saying I do not at all 
depreciate the value of the clearest thinking in 
religious instruction ; but the thinking that leaves 
out tender love is not really clear thinking. There 
may be an intellectual power that is as beautiful 
as the frost on a window pane, but it may at the 
same time be as cold as it is beautiful. The 
apostle harmoniously combined clearness of thought 
with tenderness of feeling; it was this happy 
union that gave his spoken and written words 
much of their blessed power to win men to truth 
and to God. 

3. TJie apostle s desire as expressed in the text 
zuas also a prayerful desire — "Brethren, my heart's 
desire and/m/^r." True desire for the conver- 
sion of men must ever express itself in prayer as 
in effort. The heart that goes out to men for 
God must go up to God for men. It is possible 
for the heart to cherish desires which it does not 
utter in prayer; but where the heart overflows 
with religious desires the lips will address the Al- 



114 THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 

mighty in appropriate petitions. True prayer 
must come from warm hearts ; cold hearts seldom 
pray, and seldomer pray aright. Sometimes the 
shortest way to reach men's hearts is by way of 
God's throne. When Paul and Silas were in the 
prison at Philippi, we are told that they ^'sang 
praises unto God ; and the prisoners heard them " ; 
literally the words mean that "praying, they 
hymned God." Perhaps they could not directly 
have addressed their fellow-prisoners, but they 
prayed while singing a hymn to God, and the voice 
of prayer and praise ascended to God and de- 
scended upon men. We could oftener mightily 
move men if we were mightly moved toward God 
on their behalf. We are greatly instructed in our 
efforts for the conversion of men by the union of 
effort and of prayer so beautifully given in the 
text, to secure that result. The apostle could not 
be satisfied with simply cherishing a desire for the 
conversion of his brethren ; that desire he ex- 
presses in prayer to God himself, and also in writ- 
ing to the brethren. He tells them of his desire 
and of his prayer to God on their behalf. The 
mere telling them of this prayerful desire would 
have its influence in securing their submission to 
Christ, and so in answering the prayer which he 
had already offered. He had no pleasure in de- 
claring the severe truths which he had just an- 
nounced, but the announcement was made not in 
anger but in love ; he baptized his warnings in 
heartfelt prayer. This union of prayer and preach- 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE I I 5 

ing is an example for all Christian workers to this 
hour. We cannot afford to dispense with any 
elements of power which the apostle manifested, 
and which God may permit us to possess and to 
employ. There should be definiteness in our de- 
sires as we approach God in prayer, and equal 
definiteness in our purpose as we approach men to 
win them to Jesus Christ. The moment our 
hearts go out in true desire for the conversion of 
our fellow-men, that moment in conscious weak- 
ness our hearts will go up to God that his Spirit 
may apply the truths we utter and bless the 
efforts we make. We thank God and the noble 
apostle for this illustration of the union of human 
effort and divine power in Christian labor. 

4. We notice also that this was an evangelical 
desire on the part of the Apostle Paul — " That 
they might be saved!' What is the apostle's 
thought in the expression of this desire } Does he 
mean simply to labor and to pray that his kindred 
may be saved from temporal disaster } Doubtless 
their temporal welfare was dear to his manly and 
loving heart ; but it is quite certain that he does 
not limit his desire to their salvation from temporal 
or national disaster. He may have known by di- 
vine intuition, or by careful study of national ten- 
dencies, and by the position of the people in rela- 
tion to other nations, that temporal disaster was 
soon to come. As a true patriot he undoubtedly 
desired to save his brethren from national ruin ; 
but he means much more in this prayerful desire 



Il6 THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 

than preservation from national destruction or any 
form of earthly sorrow. He prays and labors that 
they may be saved with an eternal salvation ; he 
desires that they may be convicted of sin and con- 
verted to God. He could not consistently pray 
that they might be saved so long as they remained 
in unbelief. If their eternal salvation were secured 
they could better endure the temporal calamities 
which were certainly soon to come. Nothing short 
of their redemption from sin here and from death 
forever hereafter, could satisfy the apostle's desire ; 
nothing less than this ought to satisfy our desires 
as Christian men and women in our relation to our 
fellow-men. The example of the apostle is help- 
ful to us as parents and as patriots ; he recognizes 
the ties of blood and of nationality ; so ought we. 
Are we ourselves saved ? Have we a good hope 
through faith in Christ .-* Have we passed from death 
unto life ? Are our names written in the Lamb's 
book of life } If so, we ought then most ear- 
nestly to desire the salvation of our kindred, espe- 
cially our own flesh and blood in the tenderest rela- 
tions of family life. Can we be indifferent to the 
welfare of our children, both for this world and for 
that which is to come ? 

I appeal to you, teachers, on behalf of the chil- 
dren committed to your care in our Sunday-schools. 
Have you a fraternal and cordial and prayerful 
desire for their salvation } Such a desire did the 
Apostle Paul cherish toward his kinsmen, his 
brethren in the flesh. Have we who are preach- 



THE COMPREHENSIVE DESIRE 



ers and pastors a realization of our responsibili- 
ties and our opportunities in regard to those who 
listen to us as ambassadors for Christ ? Wonder- 
ful are the words of this same glorious and peer- 
less apostle when he said : '* Now then we are am- 
bassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye 
reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be 
sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be 
made the righteousness of God in him." He here 
puts himself, and other ambassadors for Christ, in 
Christ's stead before men, to beseech them to be 
reconciled to God. He here rebukes our coldness, 
softens our hardness, and quickens our deadness 
in Christian life and love. Oh, that to-day we 
might catch the spirit of his affectionate heart and 
his prayerful desire ! Oh, that I might now be 
able so to beseech you who are still strangers to 
Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour that just now 
you might submit your hearts in loving obedience 
to him as your Prophet, Priest, and King ! Oh, 
men and women who have known the love of 
Christ, make the apostle's example in this text 
your own. Cherish with all your souls this glow- 
ing desire of his heart which found expression in 
earnest prayer to God, and in loving efforts for the 
eternal salvation of his brethren after the flesh. 
May God give us all such a conception of Christ 
and of salvation that we shall, as the apostle else- 
where did, beseech men night and day, with tears, 
that they may be reconciled unto God. 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 



Keep me as the apple of the eye. — Ps. ly : 8. 



VIII 

THIS psalm is appropriately entitled, ** A 
Prayer of David." The psalm is really a 
prayer; its distinctive characteristic throughout is 
petition. The servant of God who offers the 
prayer was conscious of his uprightness, and also of 
the danger to which he was exposed. We do not 
know on what historical occasion this prayer was 
offered, but it is quite certain that the petitioner 
realized that he was surrounded by enemies, 
David's life abounded in occasions when such a 
prayer might fittingly be offered. He was so 
often beset with dangers that he might properly 
with great frequency pour out his heart to God in 
the language of this psalm. On the special occa- 
sion giving rise to it, his enemies were numerous, 
bitter, and deadly ; they were as fierce and greedy 
as the lion hunting its prey. They were also men 
of wealth, and men who sought only the supposed 
good things of this world; but the petitioner's 
thoughts rose far above these considerations. He 
declares in the closing part of the psalm that 
nothing short of beholding God's face in righteous- 
ness would satisfy the longings of his aspiring 
soul. 

The part of the petition selected as the text is 
very tender and beautiful. We ought to have its 



122 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

literal thought clearly in our minds. There is in 
the original a remarkable strength in the words 
employed. The exact rendering of the Hebrew- 
is, ** Keep me as the little man — the daughter — of 
the eye." It is readily seen that there is here a 
curious confusion of genders, but a little familiar- 
ity with the Hebrew idioms will clarify our con- 
ception of the meaning. The apple of the eye 
means the pupil of the eye, the small opening in 
the iris through which the rays of light pass to 
the retina. The Hebrew word Ishon, rendered 
apple, means ** little man," because in this part of 
the eye one sees his own image in greatly reduced 
proportions ; and this fact accounts for our word- 
term, pupil. The expression "daughter of the 
eye" means that which is dependent on or con- 
nected with the eye. It is customary to call a 
small town or village, when dependent on a city, 
"the daughter of the city." The prayer, there- 
fore, is that God would guard the psalmist as the 
tenderest part of one's eye is guarded. The pupil 
is the type of that which is most precious, and 
most easily injured. The psalm is truly precious 
to all God's children. Perhaps no part of the 
Psalter has been more often sung than this psalm 
in some one of its many versions. When we pray 
that God will keep us as the apple of the eye it is 
necessary for us to know how God does keep the 
apple of the eye, that we may fully appreciate the 
prayer that we offer. 

I. God keeps the apple of the eye constitution' 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 1 23 

ally ; and we therefore pray that God may so con- 
trol us in our constitutional qualities and desires 
that through them he may keep us for his service 
here and for his glory hereafter. God as our 
Creator has marvelously guarded the eye. He 
has placed it in a well-protected position; not 
more truly was Jerusalem encircled by mountains 
than is the eye protected by appropriate guards. 
He has placed it in a deep, bony socket, composed 
it is said, of "seven different bones hollowed at 
their edges." He has made the forehead and the 
cheek bones its ramparts. He has caused the eye 
to rest within its socket on a bed of fatty sub- 
stance the best adapted for its repose as well as its 
motion. He has also sheltered it by the eye- 
brows ; they are an arch of hair forming a hedge 
to prevent the moisture of the forehead from go- 
ing into the eye. He has also given it the curtain 
of the eyelids, and protected it by the brushlike 
eyelashes. They sweep it clean from the various 
dangerous substances which might prove injurious. 
The eyelid defends, wipes, and finally closes the 
eye in sleep. The eyelids are really close-fitting 
shutters to screen the light ; their inner side is 
lined with a membrane that is exceedingly sensi- 
tive; it thus aids in protecting the eye from irri- 
tating substances. Within the lashes are oil glands 
which lubricate the edges of the lids. It would be 
difficult to find any apparatus more appropriate in 
its organism for its useful purpose. In order that 
the eye may be moist and clean, God has supplied 



124 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

it with a secretion which excellently washes it 
from all foreign substances. He has also so made 
it that the superfluous brine is carried to the nos- 
tril through a skillful perforation in the bone. The 
ball itself is covered by three coatings. The first 
is a horny casing which helps to give the eye its 
beautiful shape ; the second is really a black lining 
which absorbs the superfluous light ; the third is a 
membrane in which the fibers of the optic nerve 
expand. 

It would be easy to go into much fuller detail 
regarding the construction of the eye as showing 
divine wisdom, and as illustrating the prayer of 
the psalmist, but we catch his thought sufficiently 
for the spiritual lesson we desire to teach. We 
ought earnestly to pray that our whole nature may 
be so constituted as to be a guard against evil in 
thought, in word, and in act. Sin is a disturbing 
and disorganizing element in our nature. Our 
natures ought to be in perfect harmony with the 
will of God, but sin comes in as a jarring note in 
the melody of life. Our natures ought to guard 
us against evil in the world about us, but sin 
breaks down the protecting walls and leaves us 
exposed to the assaults of the enemy. Most ear- 
nestly ought we to pray that God would guard us 
constitutionally as he has guarded the apple of the 
eye. Reason, imagination, desire, and duty are 
often at war with one another ; antagonistic forces 
disturb our mental repose and our moral peace. 
Not until the heart is brought into the obedience 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 125 

of Christ can the lost harmony be restored to the 
soul ; not until Christ is enthroned in the center of 
our soul as the organizing principle and the har- 
monizing influence can the whole nature be brought 
into peace with itself and with God its Creator. 
This prayer may appropriately voice the deepest 
desires of our hearts as we come into the presence 
of God. 

2. The psalmist's thought includes the prayer that 
God would guard us circumstantially as well as 
constitutionally. There is a marvelous degree of 
divine providence in the construction of the eye, 
and in its remarkable adaptedness to the various 
circumstances in which it is to perform its offices. 
It is much like a camera ; indeed, the camera is in 
some sort an imitation of the eye. The eye 
adapts itself with remarkable quickness to its new 
conditions. The eye of the fish does not have the 
wash of which we have spoken as characteristic 
of the human eye, because the element in which 
fish live supplies a constant lotion to their eyes. 
The winking membrane is a striking illustration of 
the adaptation of the eye to its environment. 
It lies folded, but is ready in a moment for use. 
Two kinds of substances, muscular and elastic, 
are employed in the necessary motions of winking. 
The movement is so rapid that we have come to 
use as a proverb the phrase, ''quick as a wink," 
but the process is really somewhat involved, and 
is remarkable as showing the wisdom of the 
Creator in the adaptations which the eye can 



126 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

make. In the motion of the eyelash in winking 
there is a gentle flow of tears over the eyeball, 
keeping it moist and clearing it of dust. When 
danger is near the optic nerve announces that fact 
to the brain ; the brain then sends a message 
through some of the motor nerves to the muscle 
of the eyelid, and that muscle immediately receives 
the message and instantly acts upon it, shutting 
down the eyelid. Winking not only protects the 
eyeball by shutting it in, but by a divine contriv- 
ance it moves the eye back a little way in the 
socket. At the same time the muscles of the eye- 
brow and of the face below the eye are drawn 
together, and thus they make a sort of cushion 
which saves the bone from being fractured, even 
though a somewhat heavy blow should fall upon it. 
No one can study the eye without being profoundly 
impressed with the providential arrangements for 
its protection and use. It has been often affirmed 
that the examination of the eye, even though other 
parts of the body were not under consideration, 
would be a cure for atheism. 

In offering the prayer of the psalmist we pray 
that God would enable us to adapt our moral 
nature to our environment as he has adapted the 
delicate pupil to its environment. Circumstances 
may help or hinder us in the Christian life. Cir- 
cumstances may make or mar men in their earthly 
relations. Circumstances alone do not make men ; 
if they did there would be more men made. 
There certainly are circumstances enough. The 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 12/ 

man of genius is he who masters even unfavorable 
circumstances so as to make them conduce to his 
earthly advancement. The door of opportunity 
will always open at the touch of the finger of 
industry ; but only the eye of true genius sees the 
opportunity when it is presented. So in the 
Christian life our environment may make or mar 
us. All depends upon our relation to it and the 
advantage we take of it. In a bright light the 
iris expands so as to make the pupil smaller, as 
too much light would give pain to the nerves ; but 
in the dark the iris shrinks and enlarges the pupil 
so as to admit more light. God by his wonderful 
pre-arrangements thus enables the eye to adapt 
itself to its varying circumstances. When irritat- 
ing substances enter the eye their presence gen- 
erates a fluid which struggles to wash them out ; 
but when this cannot be done these and other sub- 
stances quickly strive to dissolve these irritating 
intruders. The prayer of this text is that we may 
have equal wisdom in our moral relations to our 
unfavorable circumstances in life. Every man has 
his besetting sin ; every man has his weak places 
— unless, indeed, he is weak all over. We are to 
guard ourselves at these exposed points ; we are to 
adapt ourselves to our circumstances, so that we 
shall use them as helps to higher things in the 
Christian life. Many a man has made his misfor- 
tune the means of making his fortune ; many a 
man has developed power by the adverse condi- 
tions of his life. What wind is to the wings of a 



128 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

bird, so misfortune has often been to the wings of 
manly courage and Christian faith. The boys 
without a chance have often risen to be the men 
of great power and superb achievement. Let us 
pray that God may teach us to triumph over every 
form of adversity, and to turn evil, real and seem- 
ing, into the highest form of good. 

3. The psalmist also prayed that God would 
guard him instinctively when he offered the prayer, 
" Keep me as the apple of the eye." This thought 
we have somewhat touched upon, but it is worthy 
of additional explanation. God's children are 
always dear to him as the apple of the eye is to 
us. He has himself affirmed that he who touches 
us, touches the apple of his eye. We protect our 
eye instinctively. It is most interesting to see 
how constantly this is done. Going into a dark 
room where dangers might come to the eye, our 
hands go up without a thought to act as protectors. 
Just as the lid comes down instinctively when 
danger is near, so instinctively the hand goes up 
for the same cause and to accomplish the same 
purpose. God has so made us that the telegraph- 
ing of danger to the brain and its communication 
to various portions of the body, instructing them 
to protect the eye, will all go on instinctively and 
instantaneously. The brain receives the announce- 
ment of the danger, and immediately imparts the 
necessary instruction to the defenders of the eye, 
without any consciousness on our part of design- 
ing to communicate to the brain or to employ the 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 1 29 

natural defenders of the eye. In a similar way 
our appreciation of spiritual danger and our use 
of spiritual defenses should take place. A trained 
conscience will often act almost instinctively. 
There are men who live so near to God that their 
perceptions of right and wrong are extremely 
acute ; their consciences are as tender to moral 
dangers as are the pupils of their eye to physical 
dangers. They are not obliged to go through any 
prolonged process of thought ; no involved 
methods of casuistry are necessary to enable them 
to distinguish between right and wrong. Their 
eye is single, and as the Lord has taught us, their 
whole body is full of light. There are other 
Christians who are afflicted with moral strabismus. 
Physical strabismus is an affection of one or both 
eyes, in which the optic axes cannot be directed to 
the same object ; thus there is squinting, the 
oblique or askance look, the optic axes not being 
coincident ; strabismus also is defined as a want 
of parallelism in the visual axes. It may be con- 
vergent or divergent ; it may be single or double. 
Its causes are very numerous. 

Not otherwise is it with moral strabismus. 
There are many short-sighted and side-sighted, 
many squinting, many non-coincident Christians ; 
their moral organs of vision are often double 
when they ought always to be single. Personal 
interests, selfish desires, and sensuous delights 
warp the vision, causing them to see double and 
sometimes making them entirely blind to duty and 



130 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

to God. The whole delicate apparatus of the 
moral eye is seriously disturbed ; the eye loses its 
sensitiveness ; foreign substances which ought to 
irritate do not irritate ; substances which ought 
immediately to be driven out are allowed to re- 
main in the eye. There is often in our own eye a 
great "beam" and of its presence we are entirely 
unconscious, but somehow we are remarkably sen- 
sitive to the mere " mote " that is in our brother's 
eye. Many men are extremely anxious about their 
brother's mote, but strangely indifferent to their 
own beam. It is wonderful what tricks we can 
play upon our moral nature. We can make evil 
seem to be good and good evil. We are often 
afflicted with a disease which prevents us from 
distinguishing between moral colors. We see the 
color we wish to see ; we utterly refuse to see the 
color we are not willing to see. No prayer can be 
more appropriate than that God would make our 
consciences quick, even as he has made the apple 
of the eye ; that he would arouse our souls to see 
sin when it is near, as he has formed the eye 
promptly to see and instinctively to guard itself 
when danger is near. 

4. The psalmist thus prayed that God would 
keep him constantly. The eye in its normal con- 
dition is constantly protecting itself, and the whole 
body hastens to render needed assistance. No 
one can study the eye without being profoundly 
impressed by the excessive pains taken by the 
divine Creator to ensure its protection from danger 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING I3I 

and its due performance of its appropriate func- 
tions. There is just as much evidence of mechan- 
ical contrivance in the eye as in the telescope ; 
the eye was made for vision, the telescope to assist 
the eye in the purpose of its creation ; both are 
perfectly adapted to the laws of light. The eye 
cannot for a moment be off its guard ; all its parts 
must co-operate for the accomplishment of the 
purpose for which it is bestowed. It is most in- 
structive to see how its muscular tendons perform 
offices similar to the various mechanical parts of 
the telescope. Indeed, it is vastly more complete 
than any optical instrument. No instrument is so 
perfect in design, so exquisite in its parts, and so 
efficient in its results ; but it never can allow it- 
self to be indifferent to the dangers which menace 
it. It must be kept constantly. 

Not otherwise is it with our spiritual natures. 
The Christian man is never off duty ; he can never 
afford to make light of the claims of God upon his 
whole being. In the physical realm seeing is not 
done by the eye but by the brain. The eye simply 
makes the image and the appropriate nerve carries 
the fact and form of the image to the brain. The 
nerve simply tells the brain that the image is 
formed on the retina. The nerve of each eye 
ought to tell the same story to the brain ; so the 
conscience must receive reports from every part 
of our moral nature. We cannot afford ever to 
have our conscience unfitted for immediate service. 
No man can speak correctly from a grammatical 



132 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

point of view, when called upon in an emergency, 
if he is not accurate and grammatical at all times 
and in all mental states ; so the conscience must 
be kept sweet, clean, pure, and full of light at all 
times, that it may possess these characteristics in 
some great crisis when called upon to give an 
authoritative decision. Evidently our moral na- 
tures are capable of vast improvement with ad- 
vancing years and increased knowledge in the 
Christian life. The eyes of near-sighted persons 
become better as they grow older ; so the spiritual 
eyes of many Christians improve as they walk 
more fully in the light of God. 

5. The prayeVy therefore, is in its fullness y that 
we may be kept completely in our relations to one 
another and to the world. There are no more 
diseases of the physical eye than of the spiritual, 
and the diseases of the spiritual eye are equally 
dangerous. Some men suffer from spiritual cata- 
ract; they are in danger of sinking into absolute 
darkness ; they do not see God and truth and duty, 
because they will not. After a little time will not 
becomes cannot. If a man lives long in a dark 
cave he will soon lose the power of vision. In caves 
there are various kinds of fish which have no eyes. 
In course of time the organ of vision being utterly 
unused entirely disappears. Changes in physical 
structure are constantly going on in men and 
animals according to the various uses to which they 
subject the different parts and organs of their 
bodies. The arm unused, soon loses its power of 



THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 1 33 

motion. Hindu fakirs have held their arms aloft 
until the muscles have become rigid and now their 
arms are incapable of motion. These facts sug- 
gest a broad and a solemn law. If a man refuses 
to speak for God, he will eventually lose the power 
of speech in testifying for truth ; if a man refuses 
to pray, he will soon lose the gift of prayerful 
utterance ; if a man refuses to believe in Christ, he 
will lose the power of spiritual faith ; if a man re- 
fuses to see God, by living pure in heart and thus 
complying with the divine condition of seeing God, 
he will lose the power of this beatific vision. 
Heaven and hell are but the realized conditions of 
earth ; men who heed God here can love God here- 
after ; but men who walk in spiritual darkness now 
will go into outer darkness forever hereafter. This 
is a terrible possibility ; and it is a possibility en- 
tirely in harmony with natural law. Fixity in 
spiritual conditions tends to become eternal. There 
is nothing so awful in the conception of the future 
as the utter, the outer, and the eternal darkness 
into which men have condemned themselves to 
live by living in spiritual darkness here and now. 
Look, now, I beseech you, to Jesus Christ, the 
Lamb of God and the Light of the world. He is 
that true light that lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world. If you walk in this light it will 
grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. 
If you walk in darkness now you must keep right 
on walking in it — deeper, blacker, fouler darkness, 
forever 



134 THE MANIFOLD KEEPING 

Jesus Christ is the great optician ; he is the 
divine ocuHst ; he is the universal physician. He 
can cure strabismus ; he can remove cataract, tak- 
ing away entirely the opacity of the crystalline 
lens. Thank God, he can cure those born spirit- 
ually blind even as he cured the physically and the 
spiritually blind when he was upon earth. Come 
to him now in your darkness and blindness. He 
will give you sight. He will remove all defects of 
vision, so that you shall not see men as trees 
walking, so that you shall not see right as wrong 
and wrong as right, but so that you shall see him, 
the King in his beauty, and finally shall behold the 
land that is very far off. God in heaven, cure us 
of spiritual blindness, and then keep us as the 
apple of the eye ! 



THE GREATER WORKS 



Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, 
the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works 
than these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father. — 
John 14 : 12. 



IX 

THE thought of parting with their Master filled 
the hearts of the disciples with sorrow ; but 
he comforts them with the assurance that they 
shall be endowed with all power needful for 
carrying on the work given them to do. We see, 
however, that all their power to perform miracles 
was dependent upon their faith in him as the Son 
of God. He distinctly limits the bestowal of 
power by the words, ''He that believeth on me." ^ 
The faith mentioned in the text refers to the trust 
reposed by disciples in Jesus Christ as their divine 
Lord and Master, as the divine Son of God and the 
Messiah of Israel. The possession of miraculous 
power is thus dependent upon the exercise of per- 
sonal faith. 

The characteristic of the great powers they 
were to possess is shown by the great works which 
they were to perform. We are first taught that 
they were to perform works similar to those which 
Christ himself had performed, " The works that I 
do shall ye do also." The pronoun in this and in 
the last clause of the text is very emphatic; it 
brings out in striking contrast with the weakness 
of the disciples the inherent strength of Christ; 
and so it emphasizes the wonderful statement that 
weak as they were they should do such works as 

137 



138 THE GREATER WORKS 

he did of whom divinity had just been affirmed. 
One cannot but be startled as he contemplates 
this remarkable statement. How could any one 
perform such works as he had performed.? How 
can the greatest of men hope to perform miracles 
such as Jesus had performed during his earthly 
life ? The statement startles us even now. Does 
this remarkable promise of power to them weaken 
the argument which Christ had drawn from his 
works to prove his own divinity } Certainly not, 
when the real meaning of Christ's words is under- 
stood. Rightly understood, his words strengthen 
rather than weaken the argument for his divinity 
as drawn from his works. He had said that men 
should believe on him for the very work's sake, 
and now he affirms that his disciples should do 
what he had done, and even greater works than 
his own. Let us bear in mind, however, that the 
miracles which they wrought were wrought not in 
their own name, but in his. Let us emphasize the »/ 
truth that it was still Christ and not they who did 
the works ; the greater their works, therefore, the 
greater his honor. It is important that we should 
hold this truth most clearly in our minds. 

Not only did Christ work miracles when among 
us in the flesh, but also after his ascension ; he then 
gave power to others to work miracles in his name. 
He was able to delegate this power ; he did dele- 
gate this power. It was in his name, as distinctly 
affirmed by Peter and John, that the lame man was 
healed at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They 



THE GREATER WORKS 139 

claimed no honor for themselves in the perform- 
ance of that miracle. Peter distinctly said, "In 
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and 
walk." Did Christ when upon earth directly heal 
the sick, cleanse the lepers, and raise the dead } 
After his ascension he continued to perform these 
miracles, his power working through the disciples. 
All that is recorded in the book of the Acts is 
still the work of Christ as truly as when he was 
upon the earth. The title, " The Acts of the 
Apostles," is not inspired. A better title to the 
book would be, ''The Acts of the Lord." In the. 
Gospels we have a record "of all that Jesus de^an 
both to do and teach until the day in which he was 
taken up." In the Acts of the Apostles we have 
a record of what Jesus continued to do and teach. 
He is still the mighty worker ; the disciples are 
simply the channel through which his power flows. 
He is still the divine author of all power ; the dis- 
ciples are simply his instruments. Did Christ 
draw sin-sick souls to himself when upon earth } 
By his power his disciples should still continue to 
draw men and women to him as the risen Lord. 
Though leaving the disciples, so far as his physical 
presence is concerned, the work should not cease. 
He goes up to his vacant throne the better to 
control the work of his servants, and the more 
speedily to secure the triumph of his kingdom. 

The promise contained in the text is abundantly 
verified in the Acts of the Apostles. The sug- 
gestions already made as to the relation between 



I40 THE GREATER WORKS 

the Gospels and the Acts is profoundly suggestive. 
Christ is still the worker. He still doeth mira- 
cles, and he is pleased to use his disciples as his 
instruments in performing his miracles. We 
therefore look beyond the channel through which 
the power flows to its lofty and divine source in 
Jesus Christ himself. 

But our text tells us that the disciples should 
do even greater works than those which Christ 
did. We here take a long step in advance of the 
point we have considered. It is not surprising 
that this statement has puzzled and well-nigh con- 
founded many earnest Christian students. How 
could the disciples do greater works than those 
which Christ himself had done ? What can be 
greater than the raising of the dead ? If the 
disciples could do greater works than he had done, 
does not his argument for his equality with the 
Father on the ground of his miraculous works lose 
its entire force ? We have already explained that 
Christ was still the worker, and these disciples 
were only the instruments which in his divine wis- 
dom he chose to employ. Their works, therefore, 
were in the full sense his works, although he was 
on the throne directing all their movements and 
giving them all necessary power. 

Is it literally true that the disciples did greater 
works than Christ himself did when in the flesh .-* 
The true form of this question is. Did Christ 
choose to do through the disciples greater works 
than he chose to do in his own personal presence 



THE GREATER WORKS I4I 

upon the earth ? This latter is the entirely ac- 
curate form of the question. To that question 
one is obliged to answer with an emphatic affirma- 
tive. Attention has been called frequently by 
commentators to the fact that these words are 
certainly true in the physical realm. When we 
look at the facts connected with the miracles of 
healing performed by Christ on the one side, and 
by the apostles on the other, we are ready to af- 
firm that he through them did greater works than 
he did in his own personal presence, Christ 
healed when the diseased touched the fringe of his 
garment ; but we see in the Acts (5 : 1 5), that the 
Apostle Peter healed even when his shadow fell 
upon the diseased. We see also in Acts (19 : 12), 
that the Apostle Paul healed with handkerchiefs 
and aprons that had touched his body. We also 
see in Acts (5 : 5-10), that by the word of the 
Apostle Peter, Ananias and Sapphira were smitten 
with death ; and that by the word of the Apostle 
Paul (Acts 13 : 11), Elymas the sorcerer was 
stricken blind. Our Lord wrought miracles for 
three years and a little over, in a limited territory ; 
but the disciples wrought miracles for a generation 
in widely separated countries. Christ preached in 
Judea ; the disciples went everywhere preaching 
the word, and confirming the word they preached 
by the miracles which they wrought. 

The full significance of this promise finds its 
illustration in the great and standing miracle of 
Christianity, the rapid spread of the gospel and 



142 THE GREATER WORKS 

the triumph of the Christian faith. This miracle 
is greater than any mere physical miracle which 
was or which could be performed. Indeed the 
evidential value of miracles, in the ordinary sense 
of the term, is greatly lessened in our day. Many 
Christian apologists would prefer to have the 
number of miracles recorded in Holy Scripture 
reduced rather than increased. It is difficult to 
draw the line between the working of what we 
call natural laws and the introduction of divine 
power. It is in the spiritual, rather than in the 
natural, realm that the greatest miracles, both of 
Christ and the disciples, were performed. In this 
realm the promise of our Lord is emphatically 
true, ''and greater works than these shall ye do." 
In the rapid propagation of the glorious gospel 
this promise has its most important application. 
Deny the resurrection and divinity of Jesus Christ, 
and you cannot explain the existence of the church 
of Jesus Christ. You can safely challenge any 
student of history and philosophy to account for 
the existence of the church if he denies the res- 
urrection of its Founder. The existence of the 
church is really the most wonderful of miracles ; it 
is simply a matter of history that under the preach- 
ing of the apostles the gospel secured greater vic- 
tories than under Christ's personal ministry. As 
already explained, the victory was still Christ's, 
the power still went out from him as the enthroned 
King in Zion and Saviour of men. He himself 
said a short time before his crucifixion : *' And I 



THE GREATER WORKS 1 43 

if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men 
unto me." He was now lifted up upon the cross, 
lifted up to the throne, and lifted up in the preach- 
ing of the apostles. His own promise is now se- 
cure of glorious fulfillment. He is drawing men 
of all classes and conditions to himself. They 
are acknowledging his glorious kingship and divine 
lordship. That power and those " greater works " 
were especially manifested in the conversion of 
his enemies, in the extension of his kingdom, in 
the planting of churches, and in carrying the gos- 
pel to the Gentiles of many names and nations. / 

The conversion of a soul is still a greater miracle 
than the healing of a body; in a sense it is as 
great a miracle as raising the dead. The power 
which could transform a persecutor like Saul of 
Tarsus into a disciple like Paul the apostle, is 
miraculous and divine. It is more wonderful far 
to open the eyes of a soul blind and dead in sin, 
than the eyes of a body blind from birth. Our 
blessed Lord did both. At the time of our Lord's 
ascension, as far as the record goes, there were 
only six hundred and twenty disciples in the world 
— five hundred in Galilee and one hundred and 
twenty in Jerusalem. We are indeed warranted in 
believing that there were many more or less secret 
disciples ; but these are the numbers that are clearly 
given. On the glorious day of Pentecost, when 
the Holy Spirit came in mighty power as Christ's 
ascension gift, the miracle of the tongues was 
wrought ; the Apostle Peter preaches, and three 



144 THE GREATER WORKS 

thousand are converted to faith in Jesus Christ as 
the immediate result of that sermon. A short 
time before, Jesus had died the death of a male- 
factor ; he died amid the jeers and taunts of the 
Jerusalem mob, and now these Jerusalem sinners 
are convicted in heart and converted to Christ. 
The Holy Spirit is now in the world as never be- 
fore ; his dispensation in the economy of the reve- 
lation of the blessed Trinity has begun. On this 
day in a real sense the church was founded, and in 
the founding of the church the greatest of con- 
ceivable miracles was wrought. We now see that 
the gospel spread with astonishing rapidity ; it is 
difficult for us to realize how glorious were the tri- 
umphs of the apostles when endued with the power 
of the Spirit, for whose coming they had tarried 
and prayed in Jerusalem. The success of their 
preaching far transcended that of their divine Lord 
and Master. Now the Spirit gave their preaching 
power and enabled them to win numerous trophies 
for their crucified and ascended Lord. We learn 
that soon five thousand more became obedient to 
the faith of Jesus Christ, and soon the writer gives 
up the count regarding numbers. The places 
where the disciples and their hearers met were 
shaken by the power of God, and all the people 
were filled with the Holy Ghost as the apostles 
spoke the word of God with great boldness. These 
were wonderful days ! This was a glorious har- 
vest ; Christ was the sower, the apostles were the 
reapers. 



THE GREATER WORKS 145 

Evermore the harvest time must be greater 
than the seed time. He who a short time be- 
fore had died as a felon, now reigns as King, 
and his followers are counted by thousands. Soon 
the whole habitable earth was under the influence 
of the gospel of Christ. In the cottage of the 
peasant and in the palace of the Caesars Christ 
was preached. Away over the rocky hills of 
Palestine went the preachers of the glad tidings ; 
and mountains and valleys echoed and re-echoed 
with the preaching of the precious gospel. Soon 
the islands of the ^Egean became stepping-stones 
for the feet of ''the sacramental host of God's 
elect." Away, away, over sea and land went the 
glad messengers of the glad tidings of redemption 
through Jesus Christ. Ancient philosophers, 
hoary traditions, classic mythologies, all disap- 
peared before the simple story of the blessed gos- 
pel. The cross was the instrument which battered 
down the walls of heathen error enthroned amid 
the halls of learning and the palaces of power, and 
soon the cross was the symbol on the banners of 
Rome's triumphant army, and Christ was recog- 
nized on the throne of the descendants of Caesar. 
Christianity thus, to its spiritual detriment, be- 
came the recognized religion of Roman power. 
This rapid extension of the gospel is the miracle 
of miracles ; it is one of the " greater works " 
that the disciples were to accomplish in the name 
and by the power of their ascended Lord. So 
explained, we can readily see the meaning of our 



146 THE GREATER WORKS 

Lord's promise and its literal fulfillment in the his- 
tory and work of his apostles. 

We have also, in the text, a statement of the 
reason of the accomplishment of greater works on 
the part of the disciples — " because I go unto my 
Father." This reason has been implied in the 
remarks already made. The coming of the Com- 
forter depended on the departure of Jesus Christ in 
his physical presence. Christ's spiritual presence 
could not be granted until he had entered on his 
glorified state. While with the disciples he was 
their Comforter, their Paraclete in all the blessed 
meaning of this suggestive title. He promised that 
upon his departure '' another Comforter " should 
come. It was expedient for them that he should go 
away in order that the other Comforter might come." 
While with his disciples his presence was local ; if 
with them in one city, he could not be with them in 
his physical presence in another city. Our Lord 
gave up much of his glory by his voluntary humilia- 
tion in becoming a man. The cloud of humanity 
came across the face of the sun of his divinity. He 
accepted humanity with many of its conditions and 
limitations, although he did not become stained 
with its sinfulness ; but having finished his earthly 
work he entered upon the glory which he had with 
the Father before the world was. His return to 
the Father was followed by the descent of the 
Spirit ; and that descent is here given as the rea- 
son why his disciples should perform these greater 
works. The Spirit's presence now in a fuller 



THE GREATER WORKS 147 

sense than ever before was manifested among 
men. Each Person in the blessed Trinity has his 
appropriate part to perform in the work of human 
redemption. Christ's absence made the presence 
of the Comforter the more necessary ; his presence 
with the Father made it possible, in harmony with 
the divine plan, for the Spirit to be gloriously 
present on the earth. 

The Spirit was in a measure present from the 
dawn of human history ; he brooded over chaos 
in the morning of creation. The psalmist rec- 
ognized the blessedness of the Spirit's presence, 
and prayed against the danger of his withdrawal. 
With the coming of the promised Comforter came 
the bestowal of the promised power. When Christ 
*' ascended on high he led captivity captive, and 
gave gifts unto men." This power came because 
Christ was exalted and crowned with glory and 
honor at the right hand of God. We are now 
living, in a special sense, in the dispensation of 
the Spirit. There was a fullness of time in the 
coming of Christ ; so there was a fullness of time 
in the completer manifestation of the Spirit on the 
day of Pentecost. Christ had tabernacled among 
men frequently before his incarnation as the child 
of Mary and his birth in the manger at Bethlehem ; 
but he then came in a fuller sense than before ; 
and he then came to dwell for a long period in the 
flesh. In like manner the Spirit was present pre- 
vious to the day of Pentecost ; but he then came 
in larger measure, in sublimer manifestation, and 



148 THE GREATER WORKS 

in the accomplishment of a diviner work in the 
conversion of men to God. 

The church has too often forgotten to give due 
prominence to the Spirit's mighty manifestations 
on the day of Pentecost, and his abode in the 
church from that day to the present. As Christ 
was incarnated in the child of Mary, so the Holy 
Spirit is incarnated in all the children of God. 
The Apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians dis- 
tinctly affirms that the bodies of true believers are 
the temples of the Holy Ghost. This is a mar- 
velous thought ; this is a blessed realization. 
Christ dwelt as in a tent or tabernacle ; but the 
Spirit dwells in us as in a temple ; he is to abide 
with his people even unto the end. From those 
who are true believers the Spirit will never take 
his departure. He is here as the advocate of God 
the Father with men, as Christ is present on high 
as the advocate of men with God the Father. 
We should rejoice in the glorious significance of 
the name given to the third person of the 
Trinity, as the Paraclete. Our word Comforter is 
too narrow a word to cover the broad and blessed 
significance of the heavenly Paraclete. He is our 
helper, adviser, and comforter. Doubtless the 
word comforter comes from the Latin conforto, 
meaning to strengthen mucJi, but we have now re- 
stricted the meaning of the word. In the Refor- 
mation period the Spirit was especially the Illu- 
minator of God's word to God's people. In later 
times, especially the times of Wesley and Whit- 



THE GREATER WORKS 149 

field, when the church had sunk into a cold and 
dead formalism, the Spirit was the Quickener of 
God's people. Perhaps in our day he is peculiarly 
the Leader of God's people, revealing to them the 
things of Christ, leading them into all truth and 
into enlarged spheres of benevolent activity in 
missionary enterprises at home and abroad. 

Let us anew recognize the relation of Christ's 
ascent to the descent of the Holy Paraclete. Let 
us anew appreciate the presence, and honor the 
person, of the Holy Spirit in the church of God. 
Let us not so much pray, " Pour out thy Spirit," 
as "quicken our hearts to recognize the Spirit's ^ 
presence and power." Let us put ourselves anew 
under his holy and divine leadership, that we may 
do greater v/orks than were ever before done in 
the church of God. 

Never were the opportunities so great as now 
for doing great things for God and man. The 
whole earth is a whispering gallery making known 
the name of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men. 
Telegraphs, telephones, steamships, and railways 
have girdled the earth as never before. Doors 
are opening into every heathen nation. God is 
calling his church to go up and possess the land 
for his Son and for the salvation of men. To-day 
India is as near to America as once Great Britain 
was ; to-day in heathen lands science is opening 
highways for the feet of the messengers of Christ. 
Oh, that God would arouse his church to do these 
greater works ! Oh, that our own hearts might 



150 THE GREATER WORKS 

be opened as never before, to be the spheres in 
which the divine Spirit should achieve the triumphs 
of divine grace ! God hasten the day when his 
church shall arise, girding herself with his power, 
putting on her beautiful garments, and marching 
forth '' clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and 
terrible as an army with banners," to bring this 
rebellious world into sweet submission at the 
pierced feet of Jesus Christ. 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS 



The eternal God is thy refuge, and undernettth are the 
everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy from 
before thee ; and shall say, Destroy them. — Deut. JJ : 2^. 



X 

IT seems as if Moses might have concluded his 
remarks to the children of Israel with the 
close of the preceding chapter. But his great 
heart is full, and out of its abundance he must 
still speak and write. The farewell sermon which 
he had already preached was beautiful, powerful, 
and pathetic. After the sermon, as Matthew Henry 
suggests, he gave out a long psalm, and nothing 
then remained but to dismiss the people with a 
blessing. That blessing he pronounces in this 
chapter in the name of his God and theirs. The 
ode with which the chapter closes is one of great 
energy and beauty ; it describes in glowing terms 
this wonderful people and their remarkable privi- 
leges. Although in our Common version the words 
appear as prose, they are really poetry ; and the 
author's meaning would be much clearer if the 
translation were given in lines corresponding to 
the original. 

Many tender and precious truths are here 
uttered. It will be observed that these are the 
last words which Moses, the great leader and law- 
giver, ever wrote. He did not of course write the 
account of his own death. The fact that the text 
is among his last words invests it with a strange 
and tender interest. Moses is now one hundred 

153 



154 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

and twenty years of age, but his eye is not dim 
and . his natural strength is not abated. Joshua 
has been appointed his successor ; the law has 
been written out and ordered to be deposited in 
the ark. The song and the blessing of the tribes 
conclude the long and last farewell. Soon the 
mysterious close will come. Up Pisgah's heights 
Moses climbed ; here he surveyed the four great 
masses of Palestine west of the Jordan, so far as 
it could be seen from that position. The last 
farewells are said, and Moses in mystery and maj- 
esty goes up to glory and to God. With his last 
earthly breath he will magnify the Israel of God 
and the God of Israel. 

Three of God's relations to us are here beauti- 
fully set forth. It will be profitable for us to study 
these relations and truths which they so fully and 
so tenderly suggest. 

I. God is here presented to us as a refuge — ** the 
eternal God is thy refuged The word translated 
" refuge " conveys much instruction to every care- 
ful reader. When we look down into the heart of 
the word we see that it really means that God is 
our house, our home, our habitation or, as it has 
been rendered, our '< mansion-house." Every true 
believer has his home in God ; and his soul was 
houseless and homeless until it found rest in God. 
God is the heart's comfort, and the spirit's hiding- 
place. Moses in the ninetieth Psalm speaks of 
God "as our dwelling-place in all generations." 
Atheism makes the heart an orphan in God's great 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS I 55 

universe ; atheism robs us of our God, of our help, 
of our home, and of our hope. It leaves a man 
without God and without hope. Long ago in in- 
comparable words did Augustine say : '' Thou, O 
God, hast made us for thyself, and our heart is 
restless until it reposes in thee ".; and Jean Inge- 
low, taking the psalmist's thought, sings : 

Thou art what I want ; 

I am athirst for God, the living God. 

Thousands have since realized the truth of these 
longings, and they have also sweetly experienced 
the blessedness of finding their home in God. It 
is man's highest honor and greatest glory that 
nothing short of the eternal God can satisfy the 
longings of the soul. Things may satisfy the 
wants of the beasts that perish ; but things can 
never fill the aching void in human hearts. A liv- 
ing man needs a living God. Were it possible for ] 
us to be possessors of half the world, we should 
be dissatisfied until we had the other half ; and if 
we had both halves we should still be dissatisfied, 
for only as we possess God can we know peace, 
joy, and genuine blessedness. The rich fool of > 
whom our Lord speaks, was a fool indeed ; he 
thought he could satisfy the longings of his soul 
because he had much goods laid up in his barn 
for many years. But souls cannot live on grain ; - 
they need the spiritual food which only God can • 
supply. 

God is a refuge to the soul when men become 



156 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

conscious of the bondage of sin. When Israel 
groaned under the oppressions of Egyptian slavery, 
their hearts went up in a longing cry unto God. 
Neither did they cry unto God in vain. He heard 
the voice of their prayer and he made bare his 
arm for their deliverance. God's greatness is most 
gloriously seen when he inclines his ear to the cry 
of his feeblest child. God does not wrap himself 
in clouds of mystery, nor in garments of unap- 
proachable glory. God does not enthrone himself 
in remote quarters of the universe, and remain in- 
different to the sufferings and supplications of his 
children. Never is his glory so glorious as when 
he reveals his power to save his people. So great 
is God that he metes out heaven with a span, but 
he takes his whole arm for the protection of one 
of the lambs of his flock. Israel in Egypt is still 
God's Israel ; and God in heaven is still Israel's 
God. When Israel realized her bondage and 
longed for deliverance, God prepared the deliverer 
to accomplish the deliverance. So when men and 
women to-day are conscious of sin and cry unto 
God he will give them his peace when they give 
him their trust. When they long to overcome sin 
and Satan, God is ready to interpose his power 
and to give them the victory. When they are 
conscious of their transgressions against his holy 
and righteous law God is ready to say, " I, even I, 
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." 
God is a refuge when in the Christian path our 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS I 5/ 

enemies become numerous and powerful. He was 
a refuge to Israel at the Red Sea. Never were 
God's people in a more trying position than was 
Israel at that time. They knew well the strength 
and anger of the enemy; they knew equally well 
their own defenseless condition. Their very num- 
bers were a source of weakness rather than strength. 
They were on foot, unarmed, undisciplined, and 
dispirited by long years of servitude. They are 
now penned up in a situation of peculiar danger. 
Upward went the cry of Moses on behalf of the 
people ; downward came the deliverance of God 
for his endangered saints. Glorious always and 
everywhere is God as the refuge of his people. 

Israel experienced God's help and presence in 
the fierce attack made by the Amalekites. They 
were the first assailants of the Israelites after pass- 
age through the Red Sea. We behold Moses on 
the mount engaged in prayer, his weary arms up- 
held by Aaron and Hur, while Joshua fights with 
the Amalekites in the valley below. When Moses 
held up his hand in prayer Israel prevailed, but 
when he ceased Amalek prevailed. Praying and 
fighting must go side by side in heavenly warfare. 
Joshua in the field of battle and Moses in prayer 
on the hilltop are alike necessary to victory. Our 
blessed Christ is both our Joshua and our Moses ; 
as Joshua, he is the captain of our salvation, who 
fights our battles, and as Moses, he is on the throne 
in heaven ever living to make intercession for his 
people. God is our refuge, to whom we can run 



158 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

and be safe now, as did his praying and fighting 
saints in that early day. 

In the deep glens and up the rough hillsides 
of Scotland, God again and again proved himself 
to be a refuge to his endangered people. He 
sometimes wrapped them around with clouds of 
mist to hide them from their Satanic foes. He 
sometimes made the dens and caves in the moun- 
tains his pavilion, into which these endangered 
witnesses might run and be safe. He became 
their high tower, their strong fortress, their in- 
accessible and impregnable munition of rocks. 
God has never forsaken his people in their hour 
of danger. All through the Reformation, and 
other crucial periods in the history of the 
church, he has been round about his saints for 
their deliverance. They have been able triumph- 
antly to say with the psalmist, " The Lord is my 
light and my salvation, whom shall I fear ; the 
Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I 
be afraid .? " No body of people can more fully 
testify to these truths than our own Baptist 
brotherhood. They have borne witness for Christ 
in almost every land. Some have bedewed the 
soil in the valleys with their blood, and others 
have stained the snow on the mountains with the 
crimson tide. But they and thousands more have 
ever found that God was their refuge and strength. 
Well might glorious John Milton, as secretary of 
Cromwell, when the duke of Savoy so terribly per- 
secuted the Protestant people in the Alps, sing : 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS 159 

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold. 
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones, 
Forget not in thy book. 

God proved himself to be the supply of Israel's ^ 
need and refuge from heat and hunger and thirst 
during all their wilderness journey. He brought 
water in gushing streams from flinty rocks ; and he 
sent manna as miraculous food from heaven to 
supply the wants of his people. Not otherwise 
does God prove himself to his people to-day. 
They who trust him are never brought to shame. 
He has marvelous ways of supplying the wants of 
his people. All the forces of nature and grace 
are at his command. He can make cyclones his 
servants, storms his messengers, and peaceful 
seasons his gentle benedictions. His love is as 
unexhausted as his power is unlimited ; his grace 
is as abundant as his wisdom is profound and his 
might omnipotent. His heart is the heart of a 
mother, while his arm is that of Jehovah. Happy, 
thrice happy, are they who lean upon his heart 
and who trust his arm. Travelers on the higher 
Alps have often told us that they sometimes rise 
to heights so great that they see beneath them the 
clouds rolling, the lightning flashing, and the rain 
falling in torrents. They hear the thunder roll as 
the very artillery of God ; but the mountain peaks 
on which they stand are above the storm and are 
bathed in the glory of unclouded sunshine. The 



l60 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

peace of God dwells in that lofty region, and only 
beneath are the storms of earth. Such is the ex- 
perience of those who make God their refuge. 
vThey dwell in unbroken light, in undisturbed 
peace, and in unfailing joy. The eternal God is 
their refuge, and underneath are the everlasting 
arms. 

2. God is represented to us in this text as a sup- 
port — ^^ underneath are the ever las tijig arms!' In 
this part of the text the figure presented to us in 
the former part is changed ; an additional and 
beautiful thought is introduced. We know that 
the arm is a symbol of power, and power in active 
exercise. Numerous passages of Scripture bring 
out this thought. We have here a most beautiful 
and instructive figure. God's power is fully pledged 
for the deliverance of his people. This figure 
teaches us that God is a support appropriately 
placed "underneath." This is the position in 
which a support is rightly located. God is such a 
support when his children sink in their conscious 
humiliation and weakness ; when they are con- 
sciously humbled, they are then divinely exalted. 
When they have confessed their weakness, then 
they are truly strong. When they feel their need 
of God as a refuge and support, they are best pre- 
pared to run to him as a protector and to lean upon 
him as a helper. They need the support beneath 
them also when they sink under their heavy bur- 
dens. God has not promised that his children 
shall not bear the cross ; cross-bearing is insep- 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS l6l 

arable from their Christian service. God has not 
promised that his children shall not go through 
deep waters nor into fiercely heated furnaces ; but 
he has promised that the waters shall not overflow 
them, and that the fire shall not consume them. 
He has promised that he will be with them alike 
in the floods and in the flames. Gethsemane and 
Calvary evermore lie on this side of Olivet. We 
must drink our cup in Gethsemane and endure our 
cross on Calvary before we shall experience our 
glorious ascension from Olivet. Have courage, O 
child of God. Trust thy Father's love and might. 
There shall be no burden so heavy but that he will 
give thee grace to carry it to his glory. However 
low you may sink beneath the weight of the daily 
cross, still lower you shall find the everlasting 
arms, for they are underneath. You shall sink low 
perhaps in sickness, but no bed on which you lie 
can be so far down but that beneath it are those 
same loving arms. I have repeated these words 
again and again to the sick and the dying, and as 
they have fallen upon the ear I have seen the eye 
brighten and the peace of God come upon the 
illumined face. Bending a little time ago over a 
dying brother, a member of this church, I gave 
these words as my parting message. Two days 
passed and I was again by that bedside. Our 
brother's feet had already touched the cold waters 
of death's river ; the chill was upon hand and brow. 
I bent still lower until my ear caught his whisper, 
and these were the words I heard, '' Underneath 

L 



1 62 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

are the everlasting arms," and with these words in 
his heart and on his lips he went out into the 
world that is so near and yet so far. You shall be 
laid low one day in the grave, but no grave is so 
deep but that beneath you therein are the ever- 
/ I lasting arms ; and God shall one day raise you up 
again by his almighty power. Blessed symbol of 
God's loving might! Glorious truth of God's om- 
nipotent power ! Who would not be upheld and 
encircled by these strong, these everlasting arms ? 
It is interesting also to observe that this is an 
enduring support. It is the '' eternal " God who 
is our refuge ; and the arms underneath are " ever- 
lasting." I officiated not long ago at the funeral 
of a young mother. While the services were in 
progress her babe was crying for her in tones so 
pathetic that the hearts of us all were touched. 
But her ear was heavy that she could not hear, and 
her arm was powerless that it could not protect 
her child. Blessed be God, his ear is never heavy 
and his arm is never weary. It is an everlasting 
arm. Such a support we need in this changeful 
world of ours. The friend of to-day may forget us 
to-morrow ; our beneficiaries of yesterday may be 
our opponents to-day. To do some men a kind- 
ness is to make them hereafter our cold friends or 
our open enemies. But not so with God ; his cov- 
enant is an everlasting covenant. His consolations, 
like his covenants, are everlasting ; and his arms, 
like his covenants and consolations, are everlasting 
arms. Let us never, never doubt our God. 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS 1 63 

God is a tender as well as an enduring support ; 
this thought is suggested by the word "arm." No 
earthly father or mother is half so gentle as is God. 
If father be an endearing appellation on earth, God 
permits us to call him father. If the word mother 
touches the tenderest springs of human affection, 
God permits us to use that name as illustrative of 
his love. " I should have been a French atheist," 
said Randolph, " had it not been for one recollec- 
tion, and that was when my departed mother used 
to take my little hands in hers and cause me on 
my knees to say, ' Our Father, who art in heaven.' " 
Well may he say that there is more eloquence in 
such words lisped by the feeblest child than ever 
came from the lips of the most eloquent orators 
the world has ever known. Often in our times 
of weakness and weariness the words of the now 
sainted laureate. 

But oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, 
And the sound of a voice that is still ! 

come to our lips as a hopeless prayer. Then im- 
mediately above all such earthly loves the heart 
goes up to God, who is both father and mother to 
every trusting child. 

3. A7td in the last place, this text teaches us that 
God is a leader — ^^ He shall thrust out the enemy 
from before thee and shall say, Destroy them!' God 
leads the van. He ever goeth before his people. 
When Israel went through the wilderness he went 
before them as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire 



164 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

by night. When they entered the promised land 
he made the Jordan flee before them, made cities 
fall down at their feet, and made enemies flee at 
their approach. Wellington estimated the presence 
of Napoleon as equal to an additional force of fifty 
thousand men to the French. Who shall estimate 
the numbers for which God's presence stands as 
the leader of his conquering hosts ? Who can 
stand before the divine wisdom and unlimited 
power of the mighty God of Jacob ? He is the 
Lord of hosts, the God of Sabaoth. Ours is a 
triumphant contest ; ours is an assured victory ; 
ours is an unspeakable triumph. Forward, ye 
hosts of God, under his divine leadership. Fear 
neither earth nor hell, neither man nor devil, with 
God as your leader, for you shall gloriously over- 
come every enemy. 

God as a leader goes before his people for a defi- 
nite purpose — '' He shall thrust out the enemy." 
At the very beginning of our Lord's ministry he 
had to come into contact with his enemy and ours. 
That was a fierce conflict in the wilderness between 
Christ and Satan. Satan had overcome the first 
Adam. Shall he overcome the second ? The con- 
flict began in the wilderness immediately following 
the baptism in the Jordan. At that baptism Christ 
had been recognized as God's beloved Son. The 
temptation also followed the long period of fasting. 
Terrible was the conflict ; but glorious was the 
victory. Christ refused all the blandishments of 
Satan. He rebukes and repels ; he humiliates and 



THE EVERLASTING ARMS 1 6$ 

despises Satan. He uses no weapon which we may 
not use ; he wins no victory which we may not win. 
His weapon was *' the sword of the Spirit," which 
is *'the word of God," and by that weapon he over- 
came. So in the beginning of our Christian Hfe, 
Satan makes his fierce onsets, just as the Amal- 
ekites at Rephidim cowardly and wickedly fell 
upon the weakest and most defenseless of God's 
people ; but God had there his Joshua to fight and 
his Moses to pray. So God has given us Jesus as 
the true Joshua to fight our battles and to present 
our petitions. In the wilderness he struck the 
crown from Satan's brow and the sceptre from his 
hand, and Satan was never the same afterward as 
before. It is true that in the hour and power of 
darkness he made one more attempt upon Christ 
as the "strong Son of God" ; but in that last onset 
he was terribly defeated and Christ was again glo- 
riously triumphant. God in the person of his Son 
still goeth before us against our foes and for our 
deliverance. 

God as our leader gives us a command to aid in 
the work — ''Destroy them." While he thrusts out 
our enefny from before us he commands us to use 
our power to the same end. God's early people 
were entering the land that was full of formidable 
foes. These foes looked upon themselves as the 
rightful owners of the soil, but God gives Israel a 
commission to destroy them as the enemies of God 
and the enemies of good. God as the sovereign 
Lord of all lands and peoples commands the chil- 



1 66 THE EVERLASTING ARMS 

dren of Israel to take possession of the land of 
Canaan. God issues a similar command to his 
children to-day. This world of ours does not be- 
long to Satan. When he promised to deliver the 
kingdom to Christ if Christ should worship him in 
the wilderness, he was a liar, and such he has been 
from the beginning. Even if Christ had yielded 
to the temptation, Satan could not have performed 
the contract. The pierced hand of Jesus Christ is 
on the helm of this universe. Satan is an intruder, 
an interloper, a rebel. He is to be utterly cast out. 
Believers are to be more than conquerors over all 
their spiritual foes. Jesus Christ as the Captain 
of our Salvation has thrust out the enemy and 
overcome the world. His cross was really his 
throne, and thereon he spoiled principalities and 
powers. All about us in our city to-day are abodes 
of sin, houses of shame, saloons and their degrading 
influences. The word of God from the throne of 
God is "Destroy them." God has been our refuge 
in all the past of our national life. He was the 
God of our fathers, he is our God, and he will be 
the God of our children. Almighty God utters to- 
day concerning all the evils about us, this old com- 
mand, " Destroy them." O men and women, trust 
God as your refuge, lean upon him as your sup- 
port, follow him as your leader ; and through life, 
across the river of death, through the gates of 
pearl, and along the streets of gold he will be your 
"all and in all" in time and in eternity. 



THE MASTICATED WORD 



Thy words were found, and I did eat them ; and thy 
word was unto me the joy and rejoici7ig of 7nine heart : 
for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. — Jer. 
15 •' i^' 



XI 



JEREMIAH was called when young to be a 
prophet ; at Anathoth, the place of his birth, 

he first exercised his prophetic office. He soon 
became the subject of persecution, both from his 
townsmen and his kinsmen. Later in Jerusalem 
he experienced similar trials. While the pious 
king Josiah ruled, Jeremiah received constant aid 
in his efforts to abolish idolatry and to establish 
true religion. But under Jehoahaz a great change 
was experienced by Jeremiah, and an entirely dif- 
ferent spirit pervaded the city and country. Idola- 
try was revived, and Jeremiah's warning prophecies 
were disregarded, and he himself was bitterly per- 
secuted. He foretold the captivity in Babylon 
and the fall of Babylon itself. But all his warn- 
ings were unheeded, and his fidelity even endan- 
gered his life. When Nebuchadnezzar captured 
Jerusalem Jeremiah was a prisoner because of his 
loyalty to the truth. Finally he was carried to 
Egypt with the remnant of the Jews b. c. 586. 

His mildness, sensitiveness, and modesty made 
his trying duties the more severe ; but he feared 
no danger and braved every form of opposition 
when duty called him into rough paths. His bitter 
warnings were often more painful to himself than 
to the people whom he addressed. Nothing could 

169 



I/O THE MASTICATED WORD 

Stay the downward tendency of his infatuated 
countrymen. In a spirit of loyalty to God and of 
patriotism to his country and people he himself 
shared in the sorrows which his earnest appeals 
and solemn warnings could not avert. One ele- 
ment of his strength in the performance of his 
trying duties was his personal experience of the 
preciousness of the word of God. He could not 
but declare to others the truth which had been so 
blessed to his own soul. No man can really preach 
above his own experience. No man can power- 
fully move others by the word of God who has not 
been himself powerfully moved by that same word. 
The minister who is cold and official can never 
subdue and constrain the hearts of the hearers. 
Only he who has known God as a personal friend 
and Saviour can recommend him as such to others. 
Jeremiah received the word into his own heart, and 
out of the fullness of his own heart his lips spoke. 
The heart must unite with the head if the pulpit 
is to be a throne of power. Heartless preaching 
of the word of God can quickly be discovered even 
by those who are themselves heartless in the serv- 
ice of God. The mastication of the word is the 
very heart of this text ; but it gives other helpful 
truths and suggestive hints in our relation to the 
discovery and declaration of the word of God. 

I . We have in the study of this text the word dis- 
covered — " Thy zvord was founds In Jeremiah's 
case, the finding of the word was his conviction 
that the message which he received was truly from 



THE MASTICATED WORD I^I 

God. It was of the utmost value to him to know 
that the voice which he heard was the voice of 
God. He had to try the voices, as we are in- 
structed to try the spirits. He seems to have 
had divine discrimination enabling him to distin- 
guish between the voice of his own heart, the 
voice of false prophets, and the voice of God. The 
man who lives near to God will be likely to know 
his Father's voice. The heart that is responsive 
to the call of God will quickly distinguish between 
the call of man and the call of God. Only he 
who has mountains in his brain can rightly ap- 
preciate the everlasting hills ; only he who has 
oceans in his soul can fully enjoy the waves and 
music of the shoreless sea. So, rightly to see and 
to hear God we must have the appropriate faculty. 
The pure in heart see God here and now ; the 
obedient in soul hear God's voice, and immediately 
recognize it as the voice of God and not of man. 
Jeremiah lived in an atmosphere charged with the 
presence of God ; he therefore readily, spontane- 
ously, and joyously, "found" the word of God. 

In the sense in which he found God's word we 
are not to make that discovery. He had to dis- 
tinguish between the voice of man and the voice 
of God. We have the inspired volume in our 
hands, but there is still a real sense in which we 
also are to discover God's word. The Bible is 
never truly God's message to us until it comes to 
us as if addressed to us alone. God's book of rev- 
elation, like his book of creation, is spread out 



1/2 THE MASTICATED WORD 

before us ; but both books must be studied be- 
fore they will give up their deep secrets. God's 
thoughts are written on rocks and trees, in rivers 
and flowers ; but only the attentive student inter- 
prets the divine thought in these manifold revela- 
tions. Not otherwise is it in the higher, fuller, 
and diviner revelation which we call the Bible. 
There is no contradiction between God's thoughts 
in the volume of nature, and in the book of inspi- 
ration ; both are from his mighty ,hand and his 
loving heart. Nowhere does the Bible oppose or 
even depreciate the teaching of God in creation. 
Science and revelation cannot be opposed to each 
other ; all true science is revelation within its 
own realm of thought. The word of God gives 
its deepest meaning only to careful and prayerful 
students. We must be in sympathy with its 
thought in order fully to master its thought. The 
student of music must be musical in taste and 
studious of purpose. We ask no more of the 
student of the Bible in this respect than we do of 
all students of any science or art. The Bible 
is God's fullest revelation to the children of men. 
We too often read it in a fragmentary manner ; 
detached texts often lose the meaning which they 
possess in their original position. Our study of 
the Bible has too often violated all laws of care- 
ful interpretation. No man could understand a 
play of Shakespeare simply by studying a few lines 
out of their connection. In this way texts from 
any author could be made to mean almost anything 



THE MASTICATED WORD 1/3 

except what the author intended them to mean. 
No man can understand Milton's '' Paradise Lost " 
except he read the magnificent epic from begin- 
ning to end. No man can understand one of 
Daniel Webster's orations except he be familiar 
with its beginning, middle, and end, except he 
know its purpose, and interpret all its parts in the 
light of that purpose. Tennyson's poems could not 
stand the test of the fragmentary and torturing 
manner in which the poems of the Bible are often 
treated. Macaulay's histories would be meaning- 
less oftentimes if subjected to the processes of 
study and interpretation too often applied to the 
historical portions of the Bible. If any Bible stu- 
dent will read the book of Job through at a single 
sitting he will get such a conception of that book 
in its dramatic, its poetic, and its didactic elements 
as he never before experienced. But recently I 
made a test of the method I am now commending, 
by reading this book from beginning to end at a 
sitting. As a result of that personal experience I 
am ready to apply to the book of Job the strong 
and eloquent words of Carlyle when, apart from 
all theories about it, he calls it one of the grandest 
things ever written with pen, and then adds : 
" Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation ; oldest 
choral melody as of the heart of mankind ; so soft 
and great as the summer midnight, as the world 
with its seas and stars ! There is nothing written, 
I think, in the Bible, or out of it, of equal literary 
merit." 



1 74 THE MASTICATED WORD 

Let the same method be applied to an Epistle, 
as for example, the Epistle to the Philippians, and 
I venture to say that it will be a new chapter in 
this matchless volume, ever after it has been so 
studied. Mr. Moody recommends the topical study 
of the Bible ; he would have us take such a topic 
as faith, hope, joy, peace, light, love, and study it 
in different books, carefully discovering its mean- 
ing in its varied relations. This method has its 
advantages, but it is not without its disadvantages 
as well. The constant effort should be to get the 
writer's thought as it is revealed in any portion of 
the inspired volume. 

The Bible is not one volume, but it is a whole 
library; in it are contained all the treasures of 
wisdom and learning, as they were not found in 
the library of Alexandria in the olden time, nor are 
found in the libraries of Germany, France, England, 
and America, in our own time. The word of God 
is a torch in our dark night and a lamp in our life 
journey. It is the book of books, and has survived 
the literature of many centuries and climes, in har- 
mony with the law of the survival of the fittest. 
It is a book of greater antiquity than any other. 
It is the oldest history of the oldest events ; it 
comes to us with the loftiest pretensions and de- 
mands for its message an absolute acceptance. 

There is no kind of history so difficult to write 
as biography. Had the Bible been written by un- 
inspired men it would have denied, or at least 
minimized, the vices of its heroes ; it would have 



THE MASTICATED WORD 1/5 

magnified, or created, their virtues ; but it dares to 
tell the truth. In this respect it differs from all 
other books ; it nothing conceals, it nothing exag- 
gerates, it sets down naught in malice. There is 
then a true sense in which we, as well as Jeremiah, 
may discover the word of God. I urge you to 
study most diligently its inspired pages ; read the 
seraphic prophecies of Isaiah until your own soul 
shall glow with their heavenly ardor ; the glowing 
lyrics of David until heavenly poetry shall sing 
itself in your own hearts ; and the rugged histories 
of the olden time until the events narrated shall 
live again in your own experience ; and thus shall 
you discover God's word, and know that you have 
found God's word because God's word has found 
you in the deepest experiences of your own souls. 

2. We have the word appropriated — "/ did eat 
themy The word of God will do us but little good 
except it become a part of our own souls ; a 
hungry man may make a chemical analysis of bread 
and starve while carrying on this chemical process. 
Bread cannot impart nutrition, except it be eaten, 
and thus become a part of bone, sinew, and blood. 
Jeremiah might have rejected the word of God; 
many reject it to this day. Many wish to obey it 
only so far as its truths harmonize with their own 
desires. They practically make themselves supe- 
rior to the fullest revelation of God. 

The Bible asks no favors from the critics ; it 
simply demands fair treatment at their hands. It 
is willing to be subjected to every form of just 



176 THE MASTICATED WORD 

criticism. It has passed through the fires of crit- 
icism when they were heated seven times hotter 
than they have ever been heated for testing any 
other book, and it has come out of the trial with- 
out the smell of fire upon its pages. Moses will 
live when all his critics are utterly forgotten ; and 
the same is true likewise of others among the 
writers of the sacred book whose works have been 
discredited. Man may tilt against the stars, but 
they shine on undisturbed from their inaccessible 
heights and in their unapproachable beauty. 

But even the literary endorsement of the Bible 
will not give us the best results which it is intended 
to impart. The assimilative process suggested by 
the text must take place, else the heavenly manna 
will not fully cheer our fainting spirits. The di- 
vine word is to be eaten ; its spirit is to be taken 
into our inner life ; we must masticate, digest, and 
incorporate the heavenly truth before it will bring 
forth its appropriate fruits in our daily life. This 
is a remarkable expression here employed to set 
forth the completeness of this assimilative process. 
We must actually, spiritually, experimentally, chew, 
masticate, and digest the living bread, that it may 
truly nourish our living souls. In the large and 
divine sense, Jesus Christ is the true Word of God 
and the true Bread of heaven. He himself taught 
us that in this figurative and spiritual sense he was 
to be eaten by us, that he might impart to us true 
spiritual life. In our hurried lives we do not med- 
itate sufficiently upon the word of God. If it 



THE MASTICATED WORD 1/7 

would become dear to us as it was to the psalmist, 
as he has detailed his experience in the one hun- 
dred and nineteenth Psalm, if it would become our 
meat and our drink as it was to many of our fathers 
when other books were not so numerous, then we 
might expect to see the stalwart believers and 
heroic soldiers in the service of God whose noble 
services made the church illustrious in the past. 
Then would the church be ''clear as the sun, fair 
as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners." 
3. We notice God's word enjoyed — ^^ And thy 
word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine 
hearts When so appropriated the word of God 
never fails to give joy; it illumines the mind, it 
purifies the heart, it ennobles the life, and it ap- 
peals to all that is grandest in human experience. 
The Bible has given us all that is most enduring 
in painting, in sculpture, in music, and in poetry. 
It has developed the highest genius in every de- 
partment of human endeavor. Take out of the 
great galleries of painting, the halls of sculpture, 
and the libraries of the world, the paintings, sculp- 
tures, and books, whose existence depended upon 
the intellectual inspiration and aesthetic culture of 
the Bible, and you make these galleries and halls 
and libraries poor indeed. The Bible has inspired 
the noblest music as well as the loftiest poetry ; it 
has filled the world with the finest productions of 
human genius ; it meets the deepest wants of the 
soul ; it stimulates intellect, imagination, reason, 
and aspiration. The Psalms mirror the moods of 

M 



178 THE MASTICATED WORD 

the soul, as a placid lake mirrors the rocks and 
trees on its banks. Never did any merely human 
harp give forth such lyric sweetness as came from 
the harp of David and filled the glens of Judah 
with their undying echoes. Nowhere else can no- 
bler specimens of history, biography, poetry, and 
logic be found than are within the lids of the Bible. 
Some of the chapters of the Apostle Paul in his 
Epistle to the Romans have been studied by stu- 
dents of law as models of syllogistic reasoning. 

The day will come, and that before long, when 
the Bible will be a text-book in all the colleges of 
America. Its literary merits alone entitle it to 
this recognition. Why should we study Heroditus 
and not Moses, who is the true father of history ? 
Why should we study Homer and not Isaiah, who 
surpasses the epic poets of Greece .? Why should 
we study Aristotle and neglect the noble Paul ? 

God's word brings God and the soul into a 
wonderful nearness, and into a blessed oneness ; 
coming from God, the Bible leads to God its divine 
author. It is the ripe product of ripe minds under 
divine inspiration. Its bards stood with uncovered 
head in the presence of God and sang to the world 
the songs taught them by heaven. They were 
conscious of the immediate presence of God, giv- 
ing inspiration to their thoughts and eloquence to 
their words. They lived over again the thoughts 
of the Eternal. As we appropriate God's word 
we too may live over these thoughts until they 
become a part of our mental and moral nature. 



THE MASTICATED WORD 1 79 

We may hold large portions of the word of God in 
solution in our minds. No one could hear the 
prayers of the late Mr. Spurgeon without appre- 
ciating the fact that the thoughts of God colored 
all his own thoughts as he drew near to God in 
prayer. The atmosphere of God was diffused 
from his pulpit, especially as he approached the 
throne of the heavenly grace. The same remark 
will apply in part to the sermons and prayers of 
both his sons. We may so live with certain writers 
as to catch their spirit and largely re-live their 
lives. 

Alexander the Great made the Homeric he- 
roes his ideals ; he carried a copy of the " Iliad " 
with him on his marches and into his battles, and 
incarnated the poet's heroic conceptions in his 
own daring life. It is possible for a man to sit 
in his library and hold communion with the mighty 
dead whose thoughts still breathe and burn in the 
volumes on his shelves. It is marvelous that a 
man can thus live with the spirits of the immortals 
who have long passed from time to eternity. He 
can master their thoughts, breathe their atmos- 
phere, and in a measure reproduce their lives. 
He may thus enjoy their fellowship as if he lived 
in their time and walked in their company. You 
can sometimes discover by the man himself what 
books he reads, what ideals he imitates, and whose 
inspirations are his aspirations. A man's life is the 
reproduction and interblending of many lives whose 
streams flow into his own soul. How much more 



l80 THE MASTICATED WORD 

of God as he is revealed in his word we might en- 
joy ! One scarcely dares say how much of God it 
is possible for a human life to possess. If we are 
born of God, we are, as the Apostle Paul affirms, 
"partakers of the divine nature." We are to be 
filled with God ; we are to share in his divine full- 
ness of life and love. This is the beatification of 
human experience ; it is a foretaste of our divine 
glorification, when we shall see Jesus as he is and 
be satisfied as we awake in his likeness. 

4. We notice, and in the last place, God's word 
acknowledged — '' For I am called by thy name, O 
Lord God of hosts'' Jeremiah came, in some 
measure, to possess and to manifest the character 
of God. We are told that Scipio Africanus was 
hardly ever without a copy of Xenophon's writings. 
He came to possess and to manifest much of the 
character of the author so studied and lived. It is 
said that Bishop Jewell could recite all of the 
poems of Horace, and that those poems greatly 
shaped his thought and speech. It is also affirmed 
that Beza, when over eighty, could repeat all the 
Epistles of Paul in the original Greek, and all of 
Psalms in the original Hebrew. That fact alone 
would explain much in his own life as to his clear- 
ness of thinking and correctness of writing. On 
coming into this close relation with the revealed, 
and especially with the incarnate Word of God, we 
shall so partake of the character of God, that we 
may be known by the world as men of God. In 
this way it came to pass that those who knew 



THE MASTICATED WORD l8l 

Jeremiah recognized the godly character which he 
possessed, and they gave him God's name. 

The beloved missionary, Judson, was known as 
"Jesus Christ's man." Every Christian is a 
"Christ man." There ought to be as little dif- 
ference between a Christian and a Christ man as 
there is between the spelling of the two words. 
If we live with Christ, we shall gain his image ; if 
we live with him, men will surely take knowledge 
of us, that we so live, and that we possess and 
manifest his character. Men who thus feed upon 
God and his word, come to possess the characteris- 
tics of both, so that the world must recognize the 
divine lineaments even in their faces. Homely 
men when ungodly, become divinely beautiful 
when they have long lived godly lives. Pure 
thoughts reveal themselves in pure faces ; the 
grasp of the hand, the tone of the voice, and the 
glance of the eye, will often tell of the indwelling 
of Jesus Christ in a man's soul. Faces to-day 
may shine as did the face of Moses when he came 
down from the mount of communion with God. 

To-day some men hesitate to acknowledge God 
and his word ; but the day is coming when such 
an acknowledgment will be the highest honor 
that men can desire or possess. To-day I offer 
you Jesus Christ as the incarnate Word of God. 
Have you found him ? Do you know him ? Do 
you live with him ? Do you know him as the 
Bread of heaven ? Have you appropriated, masti- 
cated, incorporated that heavenly food.? If so, 



152 THE MASTICATED WORD 

you can live the heavenly life ; if so, you have 
meat to eat of which the world knows nothing. 
Have you enjoyed this heavenly word? If not, 
your highest enjoyment thus far has been but a 
child's experience compared with the fuller enjoy- 
ment which awaits you. Have you acknowledged 
this heavenly word by the public profession of 
your faith in Jesus Christ? With the heart we 
are to believe unto righteousness, and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

Blessed are they who have tasted that the Lord 
is gracious, who are even now living the heavenly 
life while they are upon the earth, for they at last 
shall see Jesus face to face, and shall be satisfied 
by awaking in his glorious character, his heavenly 
beauty, and his perfect likeness. 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 



Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. 
-Isa. 4g : i6. 



XII 



THIS text is a diamond truth in a setting of 
gems. My subject this morning is The Di- 
vine Engraving. It is the most wonderful engrav- 
ing which history or tradition, mythology or the- 
ology, has ever known. Doubtless the original 
application of this text and context was to God's 
people in their lonely exile in Babylon ; and their 
restoration from that exile is in the mind of the 
inspired writer all the way through this remarkable 
chapter. It was natural for the people of God 
during that period of banishment to feel that God 
had utterly forgotten them. Their spirits sank 
within them ; their harps hung upon the willows ; 
and they had no heart to sing in a strange land 
one of the songs of Zion. They felt that a song 
of Zion sung simply for the entertainment of the 
heathen would have been nothing less than sacri- 
lege. There is also in this chapter a reference to 
the Messiah, and to the greater deliverance which 
he would bring to the spiritual people of God, and 
which would be offered to all the nations of the 
earth. A prophecy may have many fulfillments. 
We thus see that there is here a reference to the 
coming of the Messiah, and to the comforting fact 
that he would be a Saviour to the Gentiles as well 
as to the Jews. 

185 



1 86 THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 

This text, therefore, is for every child of God. 
It is for you, it is for me, if this morning you and 
I by a simple, loving, loyal faith are trusting in 
Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. 
Permit me to call your attention to some of the 
characteristics of this wonderful engraving, as these 
characteristics are suggested in the text. 

I. This engraving is wonderful^ in the first place ^ 
because of the personality of the engraver — " Behold, 
/ have graven thee on the palms of my hands." 
The engraver is the eternal Jehovah. God conde- 
scends to engrave his people upon the palms of his 
hands ! No wonder that the text is introduced 
with the word ** behold," a word expressive of great 
wonder. The statement which follows this word 
is so wonderful that it may well challenge the 
thoughts of devils, men, and angels. It is so won- 
derful that God properly introduces it to men with 
the word ''behold." If I may say so with becom- 
ing reverence, it is so wonderful that it excites the 
admiration of God himself. It is one of the won- 
ders, not of earth alone, but of heaven as well ; it 
must create surprise among saints and seraphs be- 
fore God's great throne. The personality of the 
engraver always adds greatly to the value of an 
engraving, if the engraver be famous. You may 
remember that in the Museo Real, the royal picture 
gallery of Madrid, the museum which is said to con- 
tain more wealth in pictures than any other gallery 
on the Continent, great importance is attached to 
the paintings bearing the names of the great 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 1 8/ 

artists. The numbers of paintings are given : ten 
by Raphael, forty-six by Murillo, and sixty-two by 
Velasquez, and other immortal painters. Here the 
works of Velasquez are seen in all their glory. He 
and Murillo are the masters of the Spanish school 
of painters. The marks of genius associated with 
the names of the artists give unique value to their 
work. Its genuineness is its charm. What adds 
value to many documents is the signature.. Why 
do we still talk of " signing " our name. We say, 
'' sign your name," not write your name ; and in 
that fact is wrapped up an interesting bit of medi- 
eval history. The old barons, brave soldiers, chiv- 
alrous knights, and powerful kings, often could not 
write their names. They could fight, but they 
could not write. They had, therefore, their sign, 
and they stamped it on official papers ; sometimes 
this sign was a cross, sometimes some other design ; 
sometimes it was part of the hilt of the sword, and 
sometimes it was part of a ring or seal, hence the 
significance of the name — signet ring, a ring con- 
taining a signet or private seal. Thus we have 
this curious bit of history in our modern phrase- 
ology, even though few stop to think of it, as often 
as we speak of signing our name. It is a wonder- 
ful thought that the sign-manual of God is on this 
marvelous engraving. It is that sign-manual that 
adds so greatly to its value. The greatest auto- 
graph collector now living has recently offered an 
enormous sum for a supposed letter of Shakes- 
peare. The forgery of Shakespeare's name would 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 



destroy the value of the letter ; it is in the reality 
of the signature that the value consists. The sign- 
manual of the cross of the Son of God is on this 
divine engraving. 

God is the greatest of painters. He hangs, 
morning by morning and evening by evening, in 
the sky marvelous productions of his delicate hand 
and his divine heart. We traverse sea and conti- 
nent to find the masterpieces of great sculptors and 
painters, and we do well. Twice, at least, in my life 
have I been able without guide or guide-book to 
pick out masterpieces in two galleries. Coming un- 
expectedly upon the Venus de Milo in the Louvre, 
and suddenly upon Murillo's masterpiece, the Ma- 
donna, in Madrid, I felt the inspiration of genius 
before stopping to think who the artists were or 
what were the subjects of their artistic skill. We 
do well to recognize genius in man. But why do 
we pass over the masterpieces of God ? Earth and 
air, sea and sky, are filled with God, if only our 
hearts are open to hear his voice and our eyes to 
see his handiwork. 

We thus see that the personality of the engraver 
adds greatly to the value of the engraving ; and the 
personality in the text also shows the lovingkind- 
ness and unwavering faithfulness of God. My text 
is God's answer to Zion's complaint as given in the 
fourteenth verse of this chapter : " The Lord hath 
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." 
During their great trials many of the people 
thought God had forgotten them ; to them, there- 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 1 89 

fore, the text primarily applies. But the language 
is applicable not only to the period of captivity, but 
to the long period of spiritual banishment from 
God when holy souls were longing for the revival 
of God's work and for a time of spiritual refresh- 
ing from the presence of the Lord. The text, 
broadly considered, applies to all who are striving 
for the triumph of good over evil, of right over 
wrong, of light over darkness, and of Christ over 
Satan. 

God gives, in connection with Zion's complaint, 
two arguments for the encouragement of his 
people. In the fifteenth verse his love is shown 
to be stronger than that of the mother for her 
infant child. It would indeed be strange for a 
mother to forsake her helpless babe ; but often in 
heathen, and occasionally in Christian lands,; 
mothers are so forgetful and so cruel as to for- 
sake their helpless infants. But God affirms that 
though the mother may forget her babe in its 
greatest need and in her most tender ministries, 
he would never, no never, forsake his children. It 
is interesting to see how the Bible takes up the 
tenderest of human relations in order to represent 
the blessedness of God's relations to the church 
and to individual souls. The Bible represents 
God as a husband and the church as his beautiful 
bride. The Apostle Paul amplifies this thought 
and emphasizes the truth which it so tenderly 
teaches. As members of the church of Christ 
we may reverently say that we are married to 



I90 THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 

God, and that he is our eternal husband. God 
furthermore represents himself as a father, say- 
ing : ** Like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that fear him." He also speaks 
of himself as a mother, saying: "As one whom 
his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." 
He speaks of himself in the text of this morning 
as going far beyond a mother's love, for no mother 
has graven her child upon the palms of her hands. 
Why should we ever doubt God's love ? We may 
well be surprised and ashamed at our faithless- 
ness, while we are surprised, humiliated, and 
blessed with God's lovingkindness. His love is 
the wonder of wonders. In order to banish our 
fears and comfort our hearts he gives us strand 
after strand wound together in this cable of heav- 
enly love. Here is assurance made doubly sure. 
God's unchanging, immeasurable, eternal love. Let 
us sing it ; let us rejoice in it ; let us tell it out to 
all about us. God's unmerited, matchless, bound- 
less love. Glory forever be to his great name. 

2. Bill I ask you to notice^ in the second place, that 
the engraving itself is wonderful — " Behold I have 
graven,'' etc. Let us look at its significance. 
Various interpretations are given to the language 
of the text. Some suppose that it refers to the 
custom of placing a string on the finger, or on the 
wrist, or some other part of the hand, to remind 
us of something which otherwise might be for- 
gotten. The latter part of the verse may allude 
to the custom of architects, then as now, of mak- 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 



ing drawings of the form and proportions of a 
building before its erection has been begun. The 
idea would be that God had drawn a plan of Je- 
rusalem on his hands long before the city had 
been founded, so that it became, so to speak, a 
part of his own personality. Others have sup- 
posed that the reference is to a design on a signet 
ring worn on the finger ; but it seems better still 
to believe that the allusion is to some practice of 
making marks on the hands and arms by means 
of punctures and indelible ink. These punctures 
at times were signs or representations of the 
temple, to show the personal loyalty of devotees 
to their ancient faith. It was once, and still is to 
some degree, a custom in many parts of the East, 
especially on the part of pilgrims to the Holy 
Sepulchre, to mark parts of the body in this way. 
These various marks are called '' the signs of 
Jerusalem " ; and the pilgrims bearing these marks 
show them with pride to their relatives in far-dis- 
tant countries. These marks conclusively prove 
that those bearing them have visited the Holy 
Sepulchre; they thus become sacred souvenirs 
and meritorious signs. Just as travelers make 
marks upon their alpenstocks to indicate that they 
have climbed certain mountains, so these pilgrims 
mark themselves to show that they have kept some 
vow, or performed some other act of special devo- 
tion. In many parts of Palestine Arab women 
may be seen with marks about the face, especially 
on the chin and on the sides of the mouth, to tell 



192 THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 

certain facts in their history, certain relations in 
their social life, and perhaps with the strangely 
mistaken idea of adding to their beauty. In India 
travelers see large numbers of Hindu pilgrims 
with various marks on the forehead indicating the 
caste to which they belong, and also serving other 
purposes which it is difficult for us fully to under- 
stand. 

It is interesting to see how God takes advantage 
of these local customs in order to set forth in 
stronger terms his heavenly truth. This engrav- 
ing abides. God is its author, his child is its sub- 
ject. God makes no mistakes in his engravings. 
No foe of our souls can reach God's palms to blot 
out or deface God's engraving there. Socrates, in 
the night of pagan darkness, dared to think of the 
gods as loving men even as a mother loves her 
child. This Grecian sage longed for fuller light. 
Addressing himself on one occasion to his dis- 
ciples he bore testimony to the overruling provi- 
dence of God, endorsing the allusions in the in- 
comparable Homer, when he likens the deity to a 
mother who with gentle hand fans the flies from 
her babe's face ; so this heathen sage represented 
God as driving away difficulties from before his 
children. Among the disciples of Socrates was 
Critias, the traitor, who afterward condemned 
Socrates to death, and he laughed and mocked at 
the comparison, considering it dishonoring in the 
deity to be concerned in matters so trifling. So- 
crates rebuked him, reminding him that this 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 1 93 

thought of God exalted us toward God instead of 
lowering God toward us. The malice of Critias 
did much to secure the condemnation of Socrates 
to death ; but in answer to his sneer, Socrates re- 
mained calm, rejoicing that the gods now gave him 
rest after his day's work was completed. 

We need to-day the rebuke which the heathen 
sage gave to his critic. There are men who be- 
lieve in a general, but utterly deny a special, provi- 
dence of God. But there can be no general provi- 
dence if there is not a special providence. A 
general providence is only an aggregation of special 
providences. He would be deemed an utterly irre- 
sponsible speaker who should say that an army 
perished but no particular soldier was killed. A 
general providence is the marshaling and accumu- 
lation of special providences ; so that there can 
be no general providence except as there are 
special providences. Some think it beneath the 
character of God to note the sparrow's fall and to 
count the hairs of our head. Christ did not so 
teach regarding his Father's notice of his children. 
We utterly misunderstand God if we think we 
magnify his greatness by setting him apart from 
our sorrows in the daily walks of life. If God is 
our father, then all the concerns of his children 
are dear to his heart. It has been well said, in 
substance, that with one hand God may be making 
a ring of a hundred thousand miles in diameter to 
revolve about a planet like Saturn, while with the 
other hand he may be giving color to the feathers 



194 THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 

of a humming bird, or form and perfume to a 
flower. God's greatness in dyeing a feather or 
shading the petal of a rose is as truly divine as in 
holding the planets in their orbits. Preservation 
is only another form of creation. God's greatness 
is truly manifested in his care for what we weakly 
call little things ; with God nothing is little and 
nothing is great. 

I do not know but that the microscope shows 
more of God's wisdom and power than does the 
telescope. I do not know but that the student of 
botany sees more of God than does the student 
of astronomy. Away, away with the idea that 
you honor God when you enthrone him in some 
dreamy existence like that imputed to Buddha by 
his followers, who make him in many ways indif- 
ferent to the call of his worshipers. God bends 
his ear to the feeble cry of his weakest child. I 
honor that conception of God which gives him 
the heart of a mother and the arm of divinity. 
O wondrous God, thou art in tenderness father 
and mother both to those who trust thee ; and yet 
thou hast an arm for the protection of thy saints 
that can hurl the thunderbolts of heaven, and 
stop the stars in their courses, making them fight 
against thy foes. 

3. Notice now, in the third place, that the won^ 
der of this engraving is much increased when we re- 
member its subject — "Behold I have graven theeT 
Thee, my brother, thee, my sister, thee, my little 
girl, thee, my little boy ; " behold I have engraven 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 1 95 

theey There is a wonderful personality in all 
God's relations to the children of men. We 
stand each before God as if each man and woman 
were the only person in the entire universe. Je- 
sus showed a most discriminating sympathy with 
men and women. He loved them in masses be- 
cause he loved them as individuals. He loved all 
because he loved each with a personal affection. 

I wonder how it came to pass that the angel at 
the empty tomb on the morning of the resurrec- 
tion, said to the women : " Tell his disciples and 
Peter.'' Who told the angel to give that message 
to the women 1 Jesus amid all the glory of that 
resurrection morn, going forth leading death and 
hell in captivity, doubtless specially remembered 
and named the poor repentant and broken-hearted 
Peter — ''Tell his disciples and Peter." Think of 
this discriminating love ! Who told Jesus of the 
test Thomas had proposed .-* A week passes, and 
so far as I know, none of the disciples had seen 
Jesus during that time. Now they meet and 
Thomas is with them, and Jesus immediately says 
to Thomas, ''Reach hither thy finger, and behold 
my hands ; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it 
into my side; and be not faithless but believing." 
In a moment Thomas is saying, " My Lord and 
my God." Oh, the individuality, the personality, 
the discriminateness of the love of Jesus Christ ! 
Then there is the case of Zaccheus, the little 
fellow, so short of stature that he cannot see Je- 
sus except by resorting to a method which, to say 



196 THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 

the least, seems likely to compromise his standing 
among the men of his class. He climbs a tree 
like a boy. He will hide himself behind the leafy 
screen of the sycamore's branches ; but Jesus 
looked up into the tree and said, '' Zaccheus, come 
down." He does not wait for the subject to in- 
vite the king, but like a true king, in royal conde- 
scension, he invites himself to the home of a sub- 
ject. See that woman, timid, hesitating, shrink- 
ing, going through the crowd and pushing her 
hand forward until her fingers touched the tassel 
or fringe of Christ's robe. Now she would shrink 
away with her stolen blessing which, if unac- 
knowledged, would be only half a blessing. " Who 
touched me .'' " The disciples were astonished 
that Christ should ask this question, because the 
multitude was thronging him. But Jesus had an 
inward consciousness that virtue, or power, had 
gone out of him. Others touched him, but theirs 
was not the touch of faith. Her touch reached 
beyond the fringe of his mantle, it went to his di- 
vine heart and soul. So Jesus said, " Somebody 
hath touched me." O men and women, let us 
touch him with the finger of our faith to-day. 
Touch his garment with the finger of your neces- 
sity ; touch his heart with your earnest prayer. 
He will bend from his throne to say, " somebody 
hath touched me." Thank God, we have an high 
priest who can be touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities. 

It would be unspeakably wonderful if your 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 1 9/ 

name were graven on God's hands ; but a more 
wonderful thing, I am quite sure, has been per- 
formed. It is not your name alone that is graven \ 
there, but your face, your form, yourself ; youi | 
troubles, your sorrows, your failures, your weak^ 
nesses, all are graven there. You have had your 
ups and downs during the past week, and all these 
experiences are graven on God's hands. All our 
concernments are dear to God. We have tripped, 
we have failed, we have hesitated, we have doubted ; 
all this history is on God's hands. ^' I have graven 
t/iee/" I am overwhelmed; I am silent with as- 
tonishment in the presence of so precious and sub- 
lime a truth as that. Does God care that much 
for me, that much for you ? "I have graven thee 
on the palms of my hands." Be astonished, O 
earth, be silent, O my soul, and muse in wonder, 
love, and praise. 

4. There is just one other thought of which I shall 
speak. The wonder of this engraving is enhanced 
when we remember the place of the engraving — 
** Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my 
hands'' I beg you to observe that the engraving 
is not on one hand alone, but on both — " my 
hands." Here is the hand of power — it is on 
that. Here is the hand of love — it is on that. 
In the hand of justice is the rod of chastisement; 
the engraving is on that hand. In the hand of 
mercy is the sceptre of forgiveness ; the engrav- 
ing is on that hand — " I have graven thee upon 
the palms of my hands." 



198 THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 

■/Mr. Spurgeon, in commenting on this thought, 
calls attention to the fact that the engraving is not 
on God's works, but on his hands. The works 
shall perish ; they shall be rolled together as a 
scroll. We know that the Falls of Niagara are 
receding slowly but surely, and if the final day be 
long enough postponed, the falls may entirely dis- 
appear. Nothing in creation is really permanent. 
The pyramids are not so high as once they were ; 
they are yielding to the tooth of time. The very 
object for which they were built is not certainly 
known. They are crumbling slowly away. The 
great mountains are constantly pulverizing. 
Streams from glaciers carry thousands upon thou- 
sands of tons of powdered granite yearly into the 
valley of Chamounix. Thank God, this engrav- 
ing is not on the works of his hands, but on his 
hands. Truly this is wonderful ! I beg you to 
observe that it is on the palms of his hands ; and 
when God shuts his hands he protects, and when 
God opens his hands he observes the engraving. 
It is thus on the sensitive part of his hands, the 
place of observation, the place of protection, the 
place of tenderness. Wonderful is this truth. O 
men and women, go to God to-day as your Re- 
deemer. Why have you so long refused his offers 
of mercy ? You treat no other friend so ill as you 
are treating God. If you go to him as your Re- 
deemer, then trust him as your Protector. I think 
I shall never doubt God so readily again since my 
meditation on this text. It is not simply a nug- 



THE WONDERFUL ENGRAVING 1 99 

get of gold — it is a bottomless mine of gold. I 
have only scratched the surface ; you can dig deeper 
as you meditate on this precious truth. Trust 
God as your Protector. No earthly father loves 
like God ; no earthly mother is half so gentle as 
God. I would that I could pillow my head on his 
bosom ; I would that I could feel the embrace- 
ment of his fatherly love, until I meet him in his 
immediate presence. It seems to me to-day that 
I never can doubt him again. 

Learn of God as your teacher ; sit at his feet. 
The school of Christ is the greatest of all univer- 
sities. Jesus Christ was the greatest of all 
teachers. Never man spake like this man. O 
blessed Christ, let us sit at thy pierced feet, look 
up into thy face, and learn of thee forever. Let 
us sweetly know to-day that we, in all our interests 
for time and eternity, are graven on the palms of 
thy dear hands, once pierced with the cruel nails 
for us. 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 



As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fiuttereth over her 
young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh thein, beareth 
them on her wings. — Deut. J2 : ii. 



XIII 

WE have in this text and context part of the 
song which Moses sang near the close of 
his heroic career, recounting the great things which 
God had done for Israel. The text is as suggest- 
ive spiritually as it is beautiful rhetorically. It 
directs our minds at once to the habits of the 
eagle. We know that what the lion is to the 
beasts of the forest, that the eagle is to the birds 
of the air. God has made all the animal creation ca- 
pable of teaching us useful lessons in the Christian 
life, if we but listen to the voices which they utter. 
All God's creation is beautiful to the attentive eye, 
and voiceful to the listening ear. 

I . In studying this text we have set before us, in 
the first place, the exercise of a wholesome disci- 
pline — "As an eagle stirreth up her nest." We 
know that the eagle selects the lofty height and 
the inaccessible eyrie as the place for its nest. 
But she has remarkable maternal instincts ; and in 
obedience to these instincts she knows how to pro- 
tect her young securely in their nests until the 
time comes for them to fly grandly into the upper 
regions of the sky. We are told that she some- 
times builds her nest a yard square ; and that into 
its structure go great pieces of wood, bunches of 
grass, and quantities of mountain heather. She 

203 



204 THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

knows full well when the time comes when the 
eaglets ought to fly abroad. They were not made 
always to lie in a warm and soft nest. She wishes 
at the proper time to stir up the spirit of the eagle 
which she well knows is latent in her timid brood. 
She, therefore, begins to make the nest uncom- 
fortable for her young. She first removes its soft 
and warm lining. She thus exposes its hard frame- 
work which she has put together with remarkable 
care and almost human skill. But still the brood 
are unwilling to attempt to fly. They dislike to 
leave their safe couch ; they look out from the side 
of the nest into the yawning abyss below, and then 
shrink back into the nest with not unnatural terror. 
Within them, it is true, are some strivings toward 
the realization of their lofty possibilities as the 
children of the cloud and the storm ; but without 
are the awful dangers suggested by the lofty crag 
and the deep abyss. 

What next shall the mother eagle do ? Shall 
she in false pity for the fears of her brood aban- 
don all the plans which her maternal instincts 
suggest ? Shall she see her young refuse their 
title to be the king of birds, and to spend their 
lives in idle repose and unnatural cowardice ? This 
is by no means her thought. We are told that 
she next begins to tear the framework of the 
nest ; part is dislodged from part, and piece after 
piece falls with a thundering sound among the 
crags, and the eaglets flutter in their alarm and 
express their fears in their cries. They seek ref- 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 20$ 

uge, huddling together in the parts of the nest 
yet undisturbed. What next shall the mother 
eagle do ? Shall she yield to the promptings of 
her maternal heart and abandon her high purpose 
and her noble ambition ? So to act would be un- 
worthy of the eagle's soul that throbs within her. 

It is said that next she dislodges with her strong 
talons pieces of the rock above the nest. These 
portions of the rock come rolling down the side of 
the cliff with a thunderous sound that goes echo- 
ing far amid the lofty rocks. The eaglets are 
alarmed more than ever. Does the mother mean 
utterly to destroy her brood ; has she become 
cruel rather than loving ^ Is there no motherly 
heart beneath her wings and feathers } Let us 
not so misjudge this mother bird. She must teach 
her brood to fly. Flying aloft above the storm 
and in the face of the sun is one of the glories of 
an eagle's nature, and one of the possibilities of the 
eagle's heart and wing. The mother must teach 
her young to fly. The sun which never shines is 
not a sun ; the stream which never flows is not a 
stream ; the fire which never burns is not a fire. 
Shining, flowing, burning are the inseparable at- 
tributes of sun, stream, and fire. The eagle which 
never flies is not an eagle. This mother cannot 
see her brood despise their noble heritage ; they 
must fly or die, so far as their higher nature is 
concerned. All this the mother fully knows. An 
eagle unable to fly is unworthy its name. Shall 
these eaglets deny their noble parentage ? Shall 



206 THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

they be unworthy of their high birth and their 
possible destiny ? The mother is determined that 
they shall leave their nest, cleave the air with 
mighty wing, and rise above cloud and storm with 
brave heart and undimmed eye. 

In like manner God drove Israel out of Egypt. 
God made their tasks extremely bitter in that land 
of wealth and beauty. The Egyptians transformed 
God's people into the slaves of Pharaoh. Pharaoh 
made their tasks increasingly severe. Finally he 
obliged them to furnish their tale of bricks although 
they were not provided with straw. God permitted 
them to multiply rapidly although they were op- 
pressed greatly. God caused them to suffer when 
their nests were disturbed, and he led them to 
aspire after higher and diviner things. There is a 
noble discontent among men even now, and this 
discontent is not all of evil ; it has in it sublime pos- 
sibilities for the exaltation of the race. Satisfac- 
tion with degradation is itself an element of deepest 
degradation. It is always an element of hope 
when men are reaching out after higher and better 
things for themselves and their children. God 
looked upon his chosen in their time of sorrow, 
and he listened to their cries in their periods of 
mingled despair and aspiration. He longed for 
his brood in their Egyptian nests ; and their night 
of despair was followed by a morning of hope. 
The knell of their liberty was quickly succeeded 
by the paean of their victory. God cared for 
them in their long journey as deeply and tenderly 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 20/ 

as a man does for the safety of his eyesight. God 
manifested a fatherly protection toward them and 
an amazing condescension for their welfare ; for it 
is said, " He kept them as the apple of his eye." 

Similar principles are illustrated to this hour in 
our family life. Obstacles often make men. The 
greatest misfortune that could have happened to 
many men was to be born rich ; the greatest bless- 
ing to other men is that they were born poor. 
The hard soil and the chill atmosphere of New 
England have largely made America the land of 
progress and power that she is to-day. But for 
the difficulties which he encountered in boyhood 
Daniel Webster would never have achieved the 
sublime success which is synonymous with his 
great name. But for his loyalty to God, and the 
cruelty of the Church of England, Bunyan would 
never have been imprisoned and the world would 
not have had his immortal allegory, *' The Pilgrim's 
Progress." From his prison cell his pilgrim has 
gone forth to walk through the world, exhorting 
men and women to enter upon the narrow path- 
way and to march to the celestial city. We are 
told that Bunyan wrote this remarkable book on 
pieces of paper used to cork the bottles of milk 
which formed part of his daily food. Gifford wrote 
his first copy of his mathematical work on scraps 
of leather which he secured for this purpose while 
he was a shoemaker's apprentice. Rittenhouse 
calculated eclipses on the handle of his plow as 
he rested for a little at the end of the furrow. 



208 THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

Michael Angelo struggled against poverty while his 
genius was pluming itself for its flight to the stars. 
Opposing circumstances rightly encountered de- 
velop conquering elements of character. There 
are men born to wealth who never truly live ; they 
simply exist. They have contributed nothing 
whatever to the world's wealth in literature, in 
science, in discovery, or in philanthropy ; they are 
plants ; they are vegetables. If their nest had 
been thoroughly destroyed and they themselves 
shaken by the winds of adversity, they might have 
developed power and have taken their places among 
the immortals. 

Many a man says, " I will die in my nest " ; but 
God has better things in store for him. A man 
may put his business between his heart and his 
duty to God ; a man may put his wife and his 
children on the throne of his heart and give them 
the love and devotion due to God alone. We can- 
not love our families too much if we love them as 
God's gift, and look past the gift to the great Giver. 
But if God is dethroned and any creature is en- 
throned in his place, we need not be surprised that 
our homes are shaken and our idols broken. From 
your arms and heart God may take those you love 
the most, if you give them the love which is due 
to him alone. In so doing God will be rendering 
the greatest possible service to you as his child. 
Let us be sure that God is conferring the richest 
blessing possible upon us in giving us needed dis- 
cipline. Men slumber on the edge of a precipice ; 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 209 

he is their true friend who awakens them before 
their destruction is complete. May God stir up 
our nest if the nest prevents us from flying abroad 
on messages of service for God and of blessing for 
our fellow-men ! 

2. We see also, in the second place, that the eagle 
gives needed encouragement — she '* fluttereth over 
her young." This act on the part of the eagle is 
a step in advance of her course when she stirreth 
up the nest. Let us fix our thoughts upon her as 
she is engaged in this commendable course on be- 
half of her brood. See her as she perhaps for a 
time broodeth over them, giving them some part 
of her own vital warmth and wondrous strength. 
See her as she poises over the nest, giving her 
young needed encouragement ; no wonder they 
cling to the nest, uncomfortable and somewhat 
dangerous as it now is. To fly is no easy task for 
these unfledged birds. Patiently, lovingly, does 
the mother bird balance herself over the nest lis- 
tening to the cries of her eaglets, and perhaps by 
responding cries, as well as by her own motions, 
encouraging them to fly. She must teach these 
callow eaglets that they have wings ; and that they 
must soar aloft above the crags and amid the 
clouds. They must look into the face of the sun 
as they fly into its brightest rays, rays which would 
blind other birds, but which scarcely dazzle the 
eyes of the eagle. They must learn to sweep with 
majesty and triumph through the azure gates of 
day. Mother-love stirred the nest ; mother-love 

o 



2IO THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

sent the rocks thundering down the cHff ; and now 
mother-love gives encouragement as only a mother 
can give it, with equal ingenuity, patience, and 
tenderness. 

Similar encouragement is given us in the word 
of God. Often the faults and failings of the 
saints of the olden time have in them an element 
of encouragement for us in our struggles. Job's 
sublime patience, without Job's occasional impa- 
tience, might utterly discourage us amid life's 
trials. David's kingliness among men and his 
filial spirit toward God, might dampen all our en- 
thusiasm and discourage our endeavors, were it 
not for his great weakness, cowardliness, and sin- 
fulness toward both God and man at one crisis in 
his heroic career. There is to us an element of 
comfort in the fact that the Apostle Paul had a 
thorn in the flesh, and that it remained, even 
though he prayed earnestly for its removal. The 
character of Jesus gives us our strongest encour- 
agement in struggling against the evils in our 
earthly pilgrimage. He places before us a high 
standard ; he exhorts us to be perfect even as his 
Father in heaven is perfect. He incarnates in his 
own spotless life the perfect precepts which he 
taught to men ; but his holy example does not re- 
pel, but sweetly attracts. There are lives that are 
beautiful as the frost on a window-pane, and they 
are as cold as they are beautiful. There is a 
stately sanctity which is as repellent as it is com- 
placent. Far otherwise was the perfect character 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 211 

of the Lord Jesus. When Moses came down 
from the mount with the glory of the Lord still 
shining from his face, men were repelled ; when 
Jesus came from his mount of Transfiguration 
men were attracted. His whole earthly career 
has in it an element of wonderful encourage- 
ment for us in our struggles toward the higher life. 
His incarnation was to some degree an eclipsing of 
his glory as the Son of God ; the cloud of his hu- 
manity veiled the dazzling splendor of his divinity. 
He laid aside his glory lest he might awe and re- 
pel us when he would sweetly invite and lovingly 
attract us to himself. For our encouragement 
Christ did not consider equality with God as a pos- 
session to be retained ; but he emptied himself, he 
became man, he humbled himself as a man, finally 
dying the death of the cross. Marvelously does 
he thus encourage us to bear our cross, that we 
like him may finally be highly exalted because of 
our lowliness in service, our loyalty in obedience, 
and our likeness to him in character. 

In the ceiling of the Palazzo Rospigliosi, in 
Rome, there is a painting by Guido Reni repre- 
senting Aurora strewing flowers before the chariot 
of the god of the sun, who is surrounded by dan- 
cing horce. By many this is considered to be this 
artist's masterpiece. The coloring is especially 
skillful, the brightest light being thrown on the 
figure of Apollo. All the colors are thus shaded 
off so as to harmonize with that of the central 
figure and the dun-colored horses and the clouds 



212 THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

in the background. The eye of the beholder be- 
comes weary in the effort to study this painting 
on the ceiling; and the considerate guardians have 
placed opposite the entrance a mirror in which the 
painting may be conveniently studied. The visitor 
looks downward rather than upward, resting neck 
and eye as he studies the perfect forms and har- 
monious colors of this historic painting. The hu- 
manity of Christ was the mirror of his divinity ; 
in it we can see him as the beautiful child, the 
noble youth, the perfect man, and the divine- 
human Redeemer. In all these relations of life 
he hovers over us as the eagle flutters over her 
young, giving us needed encouragement. May 
we watch the inspiration of his presence and feel 
the uplift of his influence ! Oftener ought we to 
give needed encouragement to others. John B. 
Gough stood leaning upon a lamp-post, broken in 
body and wretched in soul ; the light of his life had 
gone out ; and there seemed to be no hope for him 
in time and no light in eternity. A gentle hand was 
laid on his shoulder, a kindly word spoken to ear and 
heart, and a new life then and there was begun. 
The eloquent words of Gough, spoken on hundreds 
of platforms on both sides of the Atlantic, words 
which thrilled unnumbered thousands, were but 
the echo of the kindly words spoken on the streets 
of New York by this inspired man who, under 
God, became Gough' s deliverer. May God help 
us to give encouragement to some struggling soul 
to-day ! May there be kindliness in the glance of 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 213 

our eye, cheer in the tones of our voice, and sym- 
pathy in the grasp of our hand ! May God give 
us the spirit of Jesus Christ that we may Hve and 
labor to bring men into sweet fellowship with him, 
their Lord and Redeemer. 

3. The eagle, in the third place , gives a practical 
example — she " spreadeth abroad her wings." She 
knows well that she must do more than flutter 
over her brood ; fluttering may be conducive to 
flying, but fluttering is not flying. She must give 
her eaglets an example in her own action. She 
now appeals powerfully to the dormant spirit of 
the storm, the cloud, and the upper air, which spirit 
she knows well is in the heart of her young. She 
wishes to arouse the ambition which will lead 
them to skirt the lofty crags and to fly serenely 
and sublimely in the high places of the thunder. 
Behold her as she strikes boldly out from the 
nest, see her as she cleaves the sky with her 
strong wings, and as she sweeps upward in the face 
of the sun ! How she darts forward ! How plac- 
idly she sails on the clouds! How wildly she 
screams, filling all the air with the echoes of her 
cries ! Upward she now darts, higher and still 
higher she rises ; circle after circle she now makes, 
and now she is entirely lost to sight as her eaglets 
strain their young eyes to follow her noble flight. 
Soon she returns, her wings dampened by the 
dews of the upper air ; again she sails grandly 
amid the clouds on her tireless, undaunted, joyous 
wings, back to the eyrie and the nest. Her brood 



214 THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

welcome her ; their Httle hearts beat high. What 
pride they have in their mother ! What ambitions 
are stirring in their eagle souls ! Shall they ever 
accomplish such a flight as that of their strong 
mother of whom they are so proud ! Great 
thoughts, such as eagles may have, are filling 
their breasts ; they never before saw such a flight 
as that of their dauntless mother. She has 
aroused the ambition of the eagle soul which will 
lead them to surmount cloud and storm until they 
reach the calm upper air, where no cloud floats but 
where the sun ever shines. The spirit of the king 
of birds is evoked, and nothing will ever satisfy 
the eagle heart within until a similar flight is made 
by each wondering eaglet. 

So God gave a practical example to Israel in 
Egypt and at the Red Sea. God made bare his 
arm to destroy Pharaoh, his courtiers, and his sol- 
diers. He made Pharaoh and his people willing 
to let Israel go. He surpassed all the powers of 
this mighty king by displaying power mightier 
than Pharaoh had ever before seen. Israel fled ; 
they are gathered on the shore of the Red Sea. 
Never before were a people in so evil a case ; be- 
fore them were the waters of the sea ; to the right 
of them and to the left of them rose lofty moun- 
tains, and behind them were the soldiers of Egypt. 
But one way was open — the way upward, the way 
to God's throne and heart. That way no foe of 
God or man can ever obstruct. By that way our 
prayers may ever ascend and God's deliverances 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 21 5 

ever descend. Marvelously did the sea flee before 
them ; so also did the Jordan on their behalf stop in 
its onward flow ; so also did the walls of Jericho fall 
down ; so also were the nations smitten with fear. 
God went before his people for their deliverance 
from their foes. So Christ goes before us to-day ; 
he is still the Good Shepherd who calleth his sheep 
by name and leadeth them out. His voice is full 
of cheer, of hope, and of inspiration ; we see his 
footprints and there we place our own. He makes 
every trial encouragement for an additional vic- 
tory. The Sandwich Islanders believed that when 
they slew a fierce foe his heroic virtues and daunt- 
less bravery passed over into the hearts of the 
slayers. So Christ enables us to conquer sin and 
Satan, and to get from every vanquished evil, 
courage, fortitude, and inspiration to vanquish re- 
maining evils. One ounce of example is worth a 
pound of precept. Christ's precepts he translated 
into daily examples. Never can we be satisfied 
with our low attainments when we see his lofty 
achievements. O blessed Christ, put around us 
thy strong arms, lifting us when we fall, holding us 
when we faint, and making us heroic and victorious 
in every encounter with Satan and his hosts. 

4. We notice^ in the last place^ the eagle giving 
help in extremity — she " taketh them, beareth them 
on her wings." The eaglets catch the inspiration of 
her fearless flight and so strike out boldly for them- 
selves. Perhaps in some cases she maybe obliged 
to carry them out on her own strong wings. If 



2l6 THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 

SO, she will then throw them off in order that they 
may learn how to exercise their own wings. See 
them as they flutter, fly, and begin to fall ! Above 
them are the clouds and the storms ; beneath them 
are the fearful depths of the terrible abyss. How 
their hearts beat and their wings flutter! Perhaps 
also, they are exposed at times to the arrow of the 
archer that may pierce their bodies. See her now, 
as she sweeps under them, takes them on her own 
strong, tireless form, and strikes back for the nest. 
Most beautiful is this illustration of God's help, 
protection and salvation for his people. 

Let us never be discouraged, and let us never 
be satisfied with low attainments in the Christian 
life. We live too often in the porter's lodge, when 
we might dwell in the king's palace. We are too 
often satisfied with the crumbs that fall from the 
Master's table, when we might eat a full meal. 
Let us remember, as the Apostle Paul has taught 
us, to be filled with all the fullness of God. May 
God drive us from our nest if thereby he may draw 
us to himself ! May God empty us of self that he 
may fill us with himself ! Let us show to the 
church and to the world what God can make of 
men and women who are wholly surrendered to 
him. We may rise to as lofty a height as that at- 
tained by any of the saints of God in the past. 
Let us strike out grandly to-day for a sublimer 
flight. Let us be enterprising for God. Can we 
not mark out a new pathway of service for God 
and man ? God's everlasting arm will ever be be- 



THE INSTRUCTIVE EAGLE 21^ 

neath ; we can never sink so low, even though we 
sink into sickness, poverty, death, and finally-the 
grave, but that still beneath us shall be the ever- 
lasting arms. To-day, let the glowing words of 
Isaiah sing their sweetest music in our souls : 
" They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength ; they shall mount up with wings as 
eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary ; and 
they shall walk, and not faint." 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 



/ will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful 
in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garinents of 
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteous- 
ness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and 
as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. — Isa. 6i : lo. 



XIV 

THE sixtieth chapter of Isaiah begins a beauti- 
ful and glorious description of the golden 
age of the Messiah. This description continues 
through the sixty-first and the sixty-second chap- 
ters. The blessings of that period are represented 
as numerous and glorious. They are described in 
the exalted and poetic imagery so often employed 
by the prophets, and especially by the evangelical 
prophet Isaiah. This prophet, in harmony with 
his usual method of foretelling, puts himself into 
the midst of the scenes which he so strikingly de- 
scribes. In this connection he portrays the time 
when the Gentiles shall be gathered in, and when 
the whole earth shall be illumined with the glory 
of gospel truth. The sixty-first chapter is a marked 
portion of this grand description ; it sets before us 
the blessed results of the coming and the work of 
the Messiah. In the text we have the language of 
the prophet himself, or of some other who speaks 
authoritatively on behalf of Zion. The truth here 
taught is that the prosperity of Zion, the true 
church and kingdom of the Messiah, is a sufficient 
cause for rapturous joy, and that this prosperity 
should lead all God's true people to give thanks- 
giving for the great mercy experienced in the reign 
of the Messiah. 



222 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

But all true Christians in our day are as really 
the people of God as were the saints in the days 
of Isaiah, and they can make this language their 
own. They, more truly than God's people of that 
earlier day, can rejoice in the grace of God in their 
own hearts, and in the spread of the kingdom of 
God throughout the world. The world never was 
so small, so far as the means of reaching all its 
parts are concerned, as it is to-day. All the in- 
ventions and discoveries of the hour are contribut- 
ing to the spread of the gospel and to the establish- 
ment of the kingdom of God. Telephones and 
telegraphs have made the world a whispering gal- 
lery to echo the story of redeeming love. Steam- 
ships and railways in carrying God's messengers 
are instruments for the spread of the gospel and 
for the salvation of the race. Never before might 
the church so rejoice in the glory of God's grace 
as to-day. 

In looking more closely at this text we see that 
it gives us its salient thoughts with great clear- 
ness and with equal beauty. 

I. It contains a joyous resolution — "/ will 
greatly rejoice in the Lord, a7td my soul shall be 
joyful in my God.'' The joy spoken of here is de- 
scribed as great. Those who rejoice in God have 
cause to rejoice greatly. No other joy can be half 
so joyful; no other joy is worthy of the name. 
The joy of this world perishes even while it is 
used ; but the joy which comes from heavenly 
things increases with the using, and it will be en- 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 223 

joyed more fully in heaven than upon the earth. 
In speaking of this heavenly joy extravagance is 
impossible ; in attempting adequately to represent 
its greatness economy in statement is sinful. If 
our joy is in God we cannot rejoice too much. 
Well might the psalmist say, in the second verse 
of the thirty-fourth Psalm, " My soul shall make her 
boast in the Lord." Boasting in God is not only 
justifiable, but its absence is unpardonable. The 
psalmist recognized God as the fountain whence 
his joy sprang in a full and continuous stream. 
No man can boast too much when he forgets him- 
self and exalts only God as the object of his trust 
and the subject of his boast. If our joy is in God 
we may rest assured that God, in the perfection of 
his character and in the preciousness of his love, 
will be in our joy. Only as God is in our joy can 
joy be truly joy. 

The first gospel song which earth ever heard 
was a song of ineffable joy. In that moment of 
tremulous excitement when there came to the 
heart of the Hebrew maiden the realization of 
all the honor that was to come to her, and all 
the blessing that through her was to come to 
the world, she burst forth in a song of holy ec- 
stasy. The lofty words of the lowly Hannah came 
spontaneously to her lips. Her soul was saturated 
with the glowing lyrics of the earlier saints ; she 
was imbued with their spirit, and her thoughts 
naturally took the form of this glorious Old Testa- 
ment poetry. And so the gentle maiden sang, 



224 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

" My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." And the 
'' Magnificat " of Mary has echoed through loyal 
hearts ever since, and has found expression on the 
lips of men and women under the spell of its lyric 
impulse and its religious emotion. The '' Bene- 
dictus " of Zacharias was the natural echo of the 
" Magnificat " of Mary ; and soon the " Gloria in 
Excelsis " of the angels is heard. The birth of the 
Lord gave them, as well as us, new cause for joy. 
Over the plains of Bethlehem rang their voices 
making night melodious with heavenly music. 
The birth of Christ was cause for joy to saints and 
seraphs in heaven, as well as to all pure hearts 
and noble souls on earth. Indeed the whole atmos- 
phere was tremulous with song at the time of the 
Lord's birth. Never before did loving hearts so 
utter themselves in lofty song as then. We are 
not surprised at the '' Nunc Dimittis " of Simeon 
after we have listened to the other strains of music 
evoked by the rapturous emotion of that marvelous 
time. No wonder that Simeon, as he takes the 
divine babe into his arms, finds himself uttering 
strains of music which had long been shut up in 
his own reverent heart. 

The noble Paul drank in the true spirit of Chris- 
tian joy. He says, '* Rejoice evermore," and else- 
where, ** Rejoice in the Lord always ; and again, I 
say, rejoice." The apostle shows us that joy in 
the Lord is not simply a privilege but a duty. 
The apostle but echoes the words of the Old Tes- 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 22 5 

tament prophet who states a profound psycholog- 
ical, as well as a deeply religious, principle when 
he affirms, " The joy of the Lord is your strength." 
Religion evermore gives joy. Religion makes joy 
bells ring in heaven and among redeemed souls on 
earth. It is an ancient, and also a Satanic, slander 
to affirm that a religious life is a life of gloom. 
Satan, as his name implies, is evermore a slanderer. 
We have seen lives sad because. they were without 
God and without hope. It is true that religion 
has its solemn elements ; it is true that while Christ 
was anointed with the oil of gladness above his 
fellows, he was also the Man of sorrows. All his 
people share with him in these times of sunshine 
and shadow. That is a shallow life which knows 
no lofty joy and no deep grief. 

We see also that this is spiritual joy — " My soul 
shall be joyful." The joy here described is real, 
internal and spiritual. It springs from the deep- 
est elements of the soul. It is a quality of the 
essential being. It is not a simulated but a genu- 
ine joy. It does not wreathe the face with smiles 
while the heart breaks with grief. In the experi- 
ence of mere worldly joy there is often an aching 
heart beneath a bridal veil. Worldly pleasure can- 
not satisfy the heart's deep need, but true religious 
joy fills the heart and springs up from the soul's 
deepest and truest reality. It is also in the noblest 
sense personal joy — <' I will rejoice . . . my soul 
will be joyful." The heart thus becomes a well- 
spring of joy. This joy is not dependent upon ex- 



226 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

ternal conditions ; it springs from internal posses- 
sions. It is not something which ''haps " to one, 
but something which springs up from hidden 
sources within. Joy, therefore, is a much greater 
possession than mere happiness. Happiness comes 
or goes according to the frowns or smiles of ex- 
ternal fortune ; but joy remains because it has its 
origin within rather than without, and because it 
springs up from deep and inexhaustible sources 
within the soul itself. All without may be dark 
as deepest midnight, but all within may be bright 
as clearest noonday ; without may be only the 
world's harsh discords, but within there may be 
celestial harmonies. This joy was the blessed 
gift of Christ to his followers before his crucifixion 
and after his resurrection ; it was also his parting 
legacy as he went back to take his place on his 
Father's throne. This is the blessed peace which 
the world can neither give nor take away. 

It is to be observed, further, that this is a res- 
olution of divine joy — it is "joy in the Lord." 
This thought we have already expressed, but it is 
here brought out with greater fullness of meaning. 
This is beautiful language ; and the experience 
here suggested is a proper subject for the joy 
here declared. We can never exhaust the joy 
which has God for its source. The life that is 
hid with Christ in God is a charmed life. It draws 
upon an unending fountain of blessing and ex- 
haustless source of delight. All the other streams 
may become dry ; this stream cannot know dimi- 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 227 

nution. Like a river with constantly multiplying 
tributaries, it flows on widening and deepening in 
its progress. One day this enlarged stream will 
pour itself into the ocean of eternity. All the 
world's fountains are not really fountains, but 
simply cisterns, and broken cisterns which can 
hold no water. When our lips are parched with 
thirst we reach the hand for some cup of earthly 
joy, and we find that it is cracked, and that it con- 
tains no water ; but at its bottom we find only 
poisonous sediment. Thrice happy is the man 
whose soul can be joyful in the Lord ! That soul 
can be joyful in adversity as in prosperity, in dark- 
ness as in light, in shadow as in sunshine, in death 
as in life, and in eternity vastly more than in time ! 
In the forty-fourth Psalm and the eighth verse 
we have the thought expressed in the words, " In 
God we boast all the day long." Here not a mo- 
mentary joy is described, but a continual and in- 
creasing joy is expressed. Every true believer 
may have such joy here and now. We live far 
below our privileges when we are satisfied with 
dwelling in the porter's lodge rather than in the 
King's palace. We walk in the valley singing 
jeremiads, when we might leap on the hilltops 
singing hallelujahs ; too often we insist upon call- 
ing ourselves servants when God proclaims us to 
be sons. Jesus Christ is our Immanuel — God with 
us. He is perfect man and perfect God ; he is 
the Son of Mary and the Son of God ; he is the 
Child of the manger and the Ancient of days. In 



228 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

God let our souls make their boast ; with him on 
our side we can defy the world and the devil. Let 
us shout his praise and have even here sweet fore- 
tastes of the fuller joy we shall experience and 
the grander victory we shall achieve in his im- 
mediate presence. 

2. We have, in the second place, in this text, a 
stifficie7it reason for such a resolution — ^^ For he hath 
clothed me with the garments of salvation!' etc. 
God reveals to the soul its need of clothing. Dr. 
Bushnell, in his suggestive discourse on " Putting 
on Christ," reminds us that the highest distinction 
of man, considered as an animal among animals, is 
not in his two-handedness nor in his erect figure, 
but in his necessity and right of dress. The lower 
animals have no option regarding their figure and 
appearance. Their dress is a part of their organi- 
zation ; it grows upon them as their bones grow 
within them. This is true whether their dress be 
feathers, fur, hair, or wool ; but man shows his 
superior dignity by the necessity of additional 
clothing and the high prerogative which he may 
exercise regarding its character. This remark is 
as true morally as it is physically. When the first 
pair sinned, the garment of purity which had been 
on their soul was lost ; they therefore tried to 
substitute for it external garments of their own 
devising. Their act unconsciously declared their 
sin. Many men and women still follow their ex- 
ample. Education, refinement, culture, and many 
other graces of manner, are manufactured cover- 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 229 

ings for moral deformities. Proud men and women 
do not wish to be reminded that they are poor 
and blind and naked. Instead of turning against 
their moral defects, they are apt to turn against 
the preacher for uttering unwholesome truths. 
Except men be clothed with the garments of sal- 
vation, they are unclothed so far as the noblest 
elements of character and the highest attainments 
of divine culture are concerned. 

God also reveals the fact that he alone can pro- 
vide garments of salvation and robes of righteous- 
ness. This truth, also, men and women are slow 
to learn ; they wish to help God. They desire a 
share in the work of salvation at a point where 
their service is neither needed nor possible. The 
enforcement of these solemn truths humbles pride 
and destroys self-sufficiency. Some men are so 
inflated with self-righteousness, that they think 
they have need neither of the mercy of God nor 
the cross of Christ. They sit at their own loom 
and weave their own robes ; they act, so far as 
their moral nature is concerned, precisely as did 
our first parents in Eden in respect to their physi- 
cal clothing. But even here at times these Phari- 
sees discover defects in their robes, and here and 
there put in the silver or golden thread of some 
good deed, some holy aspiration, or some saintly 
resolution. They expect that God's mercy will 
make up for all threadbare spots, ragged rents, 
and deep-dyed stains. They would unite their 
rags to Christ's robes. Believe me, it is impos- 



230 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

sible to cover the soul in this way. You must put 
on Christ's robes, or you will not be suitably at- 
tired for the wedding feast ; otherwise you will not 
have on the wedding garment. Quaintly has some 
one said that " The filthy rags of the first Adam 
must not be joined to the princely robes of the 
second Adam." 

We know, indeed, that Christ's righteousness 
is imparted as well as imputed ; and when so 
imputed and imparted, all men take knowledge 
of its possessor that he has been with Jesus. 
Christ in the heart makes his presence seen 
in the life. He cannot be hid. A rose in our 
bosom will fill the atmosphere about us with its 
fragrance ; so does Christ, the Rose of Sharon, 
In the robe of his righteousness there is no seam 
and no stain. Even the eye of infinite holiness 
and purity cannot see any defect in that perfect 
robe. Self-righteousness is no righteousness. 
Impurity cannot purify itself. Our prayers need 
to be prayed for ; our very tears need washing. 
As well might a man lean for support on his 
shadow as for a guilty sinner to seek comfort and 
hope in his own goodness. As a ground of ac- 
ceptance with God, our own righteousness is only 
*' sinking sand." Christ will not share with us the 
glory of his finished work as a part of our justify- 
ing righteousness. 

We are told that Phidias, the great sculptor, 
was employed by the Athenians to make a statue 
of the goddess Diana, and he produced a master- 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 23 I 

piece. It elicited his own admiration; it filled 
his soul with artistic enthusiasm. But self -glory 
took the place of devotion to his art and the 
place of reverence for the subject of his artistic 
labors and genius ; and being anxious to hand 
his name down to posterity, we are told that he 
secretly engraved it in one of the folds of the 
drapery. When the Athenians discovered his 
clumsy duplicity, his unpatriotic ambition and un- 
artistic selfishness, they indignantly banished the 
man who had polluted the sanctity of their god- 
dess. Self-righteous sinners to-day act the part 
of this ancient sculptor ; they would add their own 
name to Christ's in his robe of perfect righteous- 
ness. The true Christian is clothed with the gar- 
ments of salvation and the robes of righteousness. 
The clothing is actually on his soul here and now. 
The gospel armor is useless except it be put on ; 
the bread of life is worthless except it be eaten ; 
and Christ is powerless to save, except by a liv- 
ing faith he be received into the soul. 

Why should we have in the text both garments 
of salvation and a robe of righteousness ? Some 
have suggested that we have here an instance of 
Hebrew parallelism ; but I certainly think we 
have here more than a mere rhetorical form. The 
garments may refer to the soul's need of grace 
and mercy, and the robe to the beauty and glory of 
religion. The soul is not only protected, but it is 
ornamented. The princely robe that was thrown 
over the shoulder was an article of beauty ; it 



232 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

manifested the dignity, the royalty, and the son- 
ship of the wearer. We have here then the gar- 
ments of the divine nuptials ; we have the flowing 
robes of the heavenly kingdom. They can be 
made white only in the blood of the Lamb. Be- 
hold the redeemed in glory ! Whence came they ? 
See their flowing robes of spotless white ! Mar- 
velous mystery of redeeming love, these robes are 
made white by the cleansing power of blood. Oh, 
precious truth ! Oh, blessed "gospel ! Oh, mighty 
Saviour ! While the Roman soldiers at the foot 
of the cross were casting lots for Christ's seamless 
robe, he was preparing for you and me a seamless, 
spotless, and sinless robe of righteousness. That 
robe by his grace I now offer you. It will hide 
your deformities. It will make you a son, a daugh- 
ter of the Lord of life and glory. It will be the 
wedding garment for the King's feast. It will be 
the flowing robe of heaven's redeemed and trium- 
phant inhabitants. Will you put it on ? Will you 
receive Christ now ? Then he will be your wis- 
dom, your righteousness, and your redemption 
now and forevermore. 

3. We have also here^ in the third and last place , 
a striking comparison — '■^ As a bridegroom decketh 
himself with ornaments^ and as a bride adorneth 
herself with her jewels T We see that Christians 
thus attired are compared to a bridegroom decked 
with the priestly crown. It is a strange combina- 
tion of ideas, but a combination which the original 
words clearly suggest. The allusion, doubtless, is 



THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 233 

to the magnificent robes of the high priest when 
performing his functions. Special reference is 
made to the mitre and the crown of gold on its 
front. The great truth is here taught that all true 
believers are priests and kings. They are heirs 
of glory ; they are joint- heirs with Christ ; theirs 
shall yet be, as two apostles have taught us, a 
triple crown, a crown of righteousness, a crown 
of life, and a crown of glory. 

All these truths are again beautifully suggested 
by the description here given of the bride adorned 
with her jewels. The Bible exhausts all human 
relations in setting forth the blessedness of Chris- 
tians. Human language can scarcely bear up at 
all times under the weight of human thought ; 
but it breaks down utterly under the weight of 
God's thought when he strives to make known his 
relations to men, or the exalted positions to which 
by his grace he raises them. What tender thoughts 
gather about a bride's preparation for her mar- 
riage. Father and mother, brothers and sisters, 
friends and neighbors, wait upon her, and her 
slightest wish is considered and if possible grati- 
fied. She is the princess of the home ; she is the 
queen of the hour. Some of us have seen among 
the fjords of Norway marriage processions of the 
humble and yet noble peasants of that rugged 
country and brave people. On the brow of the 
peasant girl on this wonderful day rests a crown, 
while neighboring maidens v/ith evident satisfac- 
tion, and perhaps with occasional envy, watch the 



234 THE RIGHTEOUS GARMENTS 

marriage procession. This custom incarnates a uni- 
versal thought and expresses an appropriate honor. 
In every country, if the bride have wealth she 
takes from her jewel case rare ornaments for her 
adornment. Beloved, the church is Christ's re- 
deemed, beatified, and beautified bride. He came 
from heaven to woo and to win her ; he sought 
and found her ; he redeemed, exalted, and glori- 
fied her ; he loves her with an everlasting love. 
She marches triumphantly through the wilderness, 
leaning joyfully and trustfully on the arm of her 
Beloved. She is going up to take her place by his 
side and his throne. His throne is large enough 
to welcome to his side all his redeemed ; they are 
to share in his glory and to rejoice in his victory. 
Will you accept the honors which he offers to 
those who become kings and priests unto him 
and joint-heirs with him to his cross and throne ? 

O glorious bride of Christ, redeemed by his 
grace, adorned by his robe, glorified by his pres- 
ence, march through this world singing already the 
first notes of that song which shall fill heaven's 
arches with its melodious music when the bride 
shall be seated with the heavenly Bridegroom on 
his glorious throne. 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 



Now when Datiiel knew that the writing was signed, he 
we7it into his house ; and, his windows being open in his 
chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled u^on his knees three 
times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, 
as he did aforetime. — Dan. 6 : lo. 



XV 



IT is quite certain that the prophet Daniel was 
one of the noblest men whose history is re- 
corded in any literature. He maintained his in- 
tegrity as a boy, refusing the king's meat lest he 
might be defiled thereby. He maintained his in- 
tegrity as a man, when he was placed over the 
princes and presidents of the realm ; and he still 
maintained it when he was in danger of losing his 
life because of his loyalty to God. His life is one 
which all our young men ought to study ; one with 
which they ought to be perfectly familiar ; and his 
example is one which they ought constantly to 
imitate. I do not suppose that Daniel ever re- 
turned to his own land ; but he lived to see many 
of his highest hopes fulfilled in the return of his 
people from the land of their captivity. Large 
numbers of them under Cyrus returned ; some 
came under Darius, and some under Xerxes and 
his successors. Daniel was an old man when the 
first exiles came back. Perhaps, in his own estima- 
tion, he was too old to return to the land of his 
fathers and to begin his life afresh ; and perhaps, 
also, he considered his position in the land of his 
exile too important to be abandoned at his age and 
in the midst of his great official duties. He might 
well suppose that he was better able to serve God 

237 



238 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

and to serve the people of God by remaining in 
that distant land, than by returning to his early 
home. Daniel was descended from one of the 
highest families of Judah, if not one of royal blood. 
The more noble a man's birth, the more solemn 
his position. ** Noblesse oblige,'' says the French 
proverb ; the higher a man's birth the more binding 
are his obligations to live a right life. A doctrine 
of devils has been promulgated to the effect that 
great ability, lofty position, and noble birth absolve 
men from the duty of developing and maintaining 
a worthy character. Never was there a more 
Satanic doctrine. A man's responsibility is the 
greater because of his greater ability and loftier 
position or attainment. 

Daniel's birthplace was probably Jerusalem. 
We know that he with other noble Hebrew youths 
was carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar into 
Babylon, probably between the ages of fourteen 
and sixteen. We know, also, that he rose by 
degrees from the position of a captive boy to be 
the highest ruler in the realm. There is a most 
striking and beautiful similarity between the life of 
Daniel and that of Joseph. I know of no two 
characters of sacred history between whose lives a 
parallel can more appropriately be instituted. As 
Joseph rose to great prominence in the court of 
Pharaoh, so rose to corresponding prominence in 
the court of Belshazzar this noble Daniel. Both 
of these young men, without their consent, v/ere 
exiled from their native land ; and both became 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 239 

great statesmen by personal worth in the land of 
their exile. Both preserved their religious faith 
and their personal purity in lands of idolatry and 
of gross corruption ; and both rose from slavery to 
the highest civic honors. Both were loyal to their 
God, and both were abundantly blessed of God 
and honored of men. At this time, however, I 
do not design to continue this parallel, nor to speak 
of the life of Daniel as a whole, but rather to con- 
fine your attention to the special incident in that 
life suggested by the text chosen for the morning. 
I. In tJie first place let me call your attention to 
Daniel' s danger. He was in danger of losing his 
life. The princes conspired against him, and they 
perverted the mind of the king. They were in- 
sanely jealous of Daniel. Especially were they 
embittered against him because he was a Hebrew 
captive. They were envious of him because of 
the character which he had maintained, and the 
influence which he exercised. They felt them- 
selves outstripped by his ability and overshadowed 
by his success. Jealousy is born of perdition, and 
it constantly leads to the place of its birth. Suc- 
cess almost inevitably excites jealousy. There is 
no man in business whose success is marked, who 
does not excite hostility on the part of other men 
in the same line of business. There is no man of 
mark in the gospel ministry who does not excite 
the jealousy of little-souled men who are capable 
of no noble impulses but only of narrow prejudices. 
Shakespeare utters a universal truth when he says : 



240 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow, 
Thou shalt not escape calumny. 

And Pope, in his " Essay on Criticism," has said 
with equal truth ; 

Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue ; 

But like a shadow, proves the substance true. 

The men associated with Daniel were actuated 
by this bitter and Satanic spirit. I do not know 
of any more beautiful compliment than these 
wicked men were obliged to pay to Daniel ; for 
they frankly acknowledged that as regarded the 
matters of the kingdom they could find no fault 
Iwith him, and that the only criticism they could 
^make was because of his loyalty to his God. 
Daniel had not been guilty of malversation in of- 
fice ; he had not sought personal aggrandizement ; 
he had not been guilty of the abuse of power, as is 
so common in Oriental countries. There was on 
his part no lack of devotion to the interests of the 
king or the kingdom. Happy are men in high 
office when their political foes are obliged to pay 
I them such a compliment as these political foes of 
M Daniel paid him ! Happy are we, as members of 
the church of God, when men can say of us that 
their only point of criticism is because of our de- 
votion to God ! Noble, happy Daniel ! Faultless 
even in the judgment of his foes except as re- 
garded his religion ; guilty in the esteem of his 
critics only because of his devout heart and pure 
life ! I would to God that our critics might find 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 24 1 

US like Daniel ; then should we be armed in a coat 
of triple steel against which the arrows of criticism 
might strike, but from which they would fall point- 
less and powerless at our feet. 

He was in danger, also, of losing his integrity./ 
If to save his life he had been disloyal to his re- 
hgious convictions he would have lost his integrity, 
and might in the end have lost his life as well. 
Archbishop Cranmer, the first Protestant arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, who perhaps was the chief 
author of the " Thirty-nine Articles," and was at 
the head of a commission which prepared the Lit- 
urgy of the Anglican Church, turned traitor to 
Protestantism and to his own deep convictions, 
and in order to save his life denied his faith. He 
was induced to sign no fewer than six recantations 
and to subscribe to the doctrines of the papal 
supremacy and of the real presence. He also re- 
canted his recantations. But the bitterness of 
Romanism was so terrible against him, that on 
March 21, 1556, he suffered martyrdom opposite 
Baliol College. When he came to the stake he 
looked at his right hand, which had signed his 
recantation, and said, " O guilty hand ; perish 
first," and he thrust that hand into the flames and 
held it there until it was burned to a cinder. To 
save his life he abandoned his faith, and he lost 
both his faith and his life. Macaulay considers 
him an unscrupulous time-server. 

Daniel was in danger of losing his faith and his 
life. It is easy to see what arguments he might 

Q 



242 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

have used to save his life : " Is it not better for 
me just to shave my religious convictions a little, 
to pare them down here and there ? Is it not 
better for me to omit prayer rather than to incur 
the danger of death ? May I not pray in secret ? 
Need I kneel to pray ? Is not my position most 
important at this crisis for God's honor, and for 
the good of my countrymen, and perhaps for the 
salvation of the heathen king ? " So he might 
have reasoned ; so some of us do reason ; so some 
of us by a tone, by a shrug, by a look deny Jesus 
and deny our faith. Thank God, Daniel was 
not such a man. Mr. Spurgeon tells us of a curi- 
ous blunder which a printer made in printing a 
portion of the story of Daniel. Instead of saying, 
"Daniel had an excellent spirit," the printer made 
the types say, " Daniel had an excellent spine." 
This was not much of a mistake. Thank G6d for 
Daniel's spine ! That printer was quite right. 
Would to God we had men with excellent spines, 
men who could stand for truth and God ! We 
need men who can stand even though the lions 
growl ; men who are firm even though they see 
the gleam of the knife or hear the noise of the 
rack ; men who would gladly die rather than lose 
their integrity ! 

( He was in danger of losing his soul. When 
a man deliberately puts his selfish interests before 
his duty, he risks all that is sacred in life, and all 
that is blessed in eternity. He violates the very 
first commandment of the law ; he has made self 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 243 

his god, putting his cowardly wish before the 
will of the Almighty Jehovah. We all are brought 
in some form into similar trials ; we are all at 
times in danger of losing our life, our integrity, 
and our soul. We cannot escape such trials ; per- 
haps we ought not to desire to escape them. We 
need not seek crosses ; but we must not shun them. 
We ought to walk trustfully along the path of duty, 
not asking for crosses to come upon us, not asking 
that crosses be taken from us, but simply doing 
every duty in the fear of God, and bearing every 
cross which comes with brave and true hearts. 

2. Notice, in the second place, DanieVs decision. 
It was marked by certain most interesting charac- 
teristics. In the first place, it was a prompt deci- 
sion ; his duty was not a matter of discussion. 
There was no opportunity for differences of opin- 
ion as to what he ought to do ; neither was there 
any ostentation in his conduct. I would not en- 
dorse Daniel if he had taken special pains to go 
up to the housetop to attract attention, to chal- 
lenge criticism, and to draw the fire of his foes. 
Nothing of that sort, however, did he do. He 
simply " prayed, arid gave thanks before his God 
as he did aforetime." He changed his methods in 
no particular ; he moved quietly along the line of 
his usual and exalted duty. He did not take coun- 
sel with flesh and blood. It was a matter not open 
for discussion. In this respect his conduct is 
worthy of praise. The moment a man parleys 
with the devil, that moment he has partially yielded 



244 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

to the devil. The moment a man hesitates about 
doing right, when the difference between right 
and wrong is clearly put before him, that moment 
he has done wrong. We ought to be so cour- 
ageous that we would not hesitate a moment when 
the distinction between right and wrong is put 
before us. We ought to go straight up to the line 
of duty, the line of obedience, the line of right be- 
fore God and before men. Promptness always 
disarms the tempter. A young boy left home for 
college, and among his experiences were solicita- 
tions to drink intoxicating liquors, " Com.e and 
have something," said his companions. His reply 
was, " Gentlemen, I never drink. We are to be 
associated for four years ; I hope you will find me 
a good fellow, but I will never drink." If he had 
hesitated, if he had shilly-shallied, if he had said 
a weak *'no," there being a "yes " wrapped up in 
it, there would have come repetitions of their in- 
vitation, and perhaps yielding on his part. But 
there was no " yes " in the " no " ; it was a courte- 
ous "no " ; it was a " no " expressive of apprecia- 
tion of their intended but mistaken courtesy, but 
it was a "no " which rang out like the crack of a 
rifle on a frosty morning. No gentleman will 
urge a young man the second time if he says 
"no" in that fashion. He who continues to so- 
licit, after such a refusal, is not a gentleman. I 
would that that same spirit might characterize all 
our acts. I would that all young men, and older 
men, who hear me to-day might be able to say 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 245 

"no" to every temptation of the devil. I would 
that all my boys in the flesh, as well as my boys 
in the faith, these noble boys who are so loved in 
the church, going out into business, into college, 
and everywhere, might be able to say '' no " to 
every temptation. O boys, keep yourselves clean, 
sweet, and pure. Be Josephs ! Be Daniels ! 
Stand up, stand up, for truth, for purity, for man- 
liness, for God ; and God will shut the mouths of 
the lions, and cool the flames of the furnace for 
you. 

We notice, also, that it was a very courageous 
decision. Daniel well knew what that decision 
meant ; he well knew the bitterness of his foes. 
Perhaps he did not suppose that they could secure 
the signing of this foolish law, but they did secure 
it. I wonder that Darius signed it ; but perhaps 
he was somewhat indifferent, as many monarchs 
often are, and signed it thoughtlessly. Or per- 
haps he signed it because it was very flattering to 
him to be called a god. Darius to be a god for 
thirty days ! But when I remember that Alexander 
wished to be adored as a god, and that Xerxes 
did things as foolish as are here attributed to 
Darius, I am not surprised that Darius was not 
stronger than Xerxes or Alexander. The great 
king signed the law. It may have seemed to him 
that this was a convenient method of testing the 
loyalty of the people. It may also have been sug- 
gested that there was danger of an outbreak and 
that this law would effectually prevent it. Daniel 



246 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

knew that the law was signed, and he acted intel- 
ligently, calmly, and courageously. Brave Daniel ! 
Noble Daniel ! 

There was no excitement in his manner. He 
was calm in spirit as he walked to his place of 
prayer. The windows were open toward Jerusa- 
lem, in the usual manner. In the warm climate 
of Babylon they were naturally open. Daniel of- 
fered up his prayers with his face toward Jerusa- 
lem, as became an exiled Hebrew. Courage is 
contagious. A young man who dares to do right 
becomes a leader. The conscience of every other 
young man is on his side. Their words may be 
weak and cowardly, but their consciences are on 
the side of the man who does right. Frederick 
Robertson said, when perplexed by doubt, when 
walking at times in darkness, " One thing I know ; 
it must be right to do right." Did you ever think 
of the origin of our word ''wrong".? Wrong is 
something that is wrung ; it is properly the parti- 
ciple of wring, although it occurs as a noun as 
early as 1124 ; it is what is twisted, what is wrung 
or wrested from the right or ordered line of con- 
duct ; it is wrong because it is wrung. Right is 
rectus^ straight, the participle of the Latin verb 
regere, to order, to command; and so "right" 
is what is ordered, commanded, laid down in the 
laws of eternal justice, the laws of the eternal 
God. Right wert thou, O Scottish poet, im- 
mortal Sir Walter, right wert thou, when thou 
didst say : 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 24/ 

Oh ! what a tangled web we weave 
When first we practise to deceive. 

In the meshes of that web a man will be en- 
tangled until he loses all that is dear to a true 
man, and all that is precious in the sight of high 
heaven. Oh, let us not practise to deceive, and 
thus make such a web ! 

3. In the last place, emphasize DanieVs deliver- 
ance. Possibly a certain sort of faith in God made 
even the heathen king believe that God would de- 
liver Daniel. The king suffered greatly when he 
found it necessary to punish Daniel. He had 
plainly violated the law, and in this respect his 
guilt was undeniable ; but the king doubtless was 
much displeased with himself for having framed 
such a decree. He saw that this law was un- 
worthy of him as the king of a great people ; he 
saw also that it had involved in technical guilt a 
man of unsullied character and the first officer in 
the realm. But he knew of no way by which he 
could evade the penalty which the law decreed, 
notwithstanding his heart was set on delivering 
Daniel. 

The enemies of Daniel most skillfully urged 
his punishment, reminding the king that he was 
one of the captive Jews and suggesting that he 
had shown an open contempt of the royal au- 
thority, and the king found no way by which he 
could abrogate the law. The law of the Medes 
and Persians was unchangeable. The sun went 
down while he was earnestly laboring to devise 



248 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

some means by which the integrity of the law 
could be preserved and yet the punishment decreed 
be remitted. But the law was clear and its viola- 
tion was undeniable, and there seemed no way of 
escape but that it should take its course. The 
king finally was obliged to command that Daniel 
be cast into the den of lions. Recent discoveries 
among the ruins of Babylon prove that this mode 
of punishment was not uncommon in that city and 
country. The king still cherished the hope that 
the God of Daniel would in some way interpose 
for his deliverance. He had absolute confidence 
in the integrity of Daniel and a vague hope that 
the God of heaven would display his power for the 
protection of his loyal servant. But the stone is 
brought and laid upon the mouth of the den and 
the king sealed it with his own signet. He then 
went to his own palace, not to eat, drink, and be 
merry, but to spend the night in fasting. No in- 
struments of music cheered his disconsolate heart. 
He passed the night supperless and sleepless. 
With the dawn of the morning he arose, his deep 
anxiety making him haste unto the den of lions. 
With a voice of deep solicitude he called for Daniel, 
the servant of the living God. To his delight his 
call is answered by Daniel's prompt and loyal 
reply. Daniel assures him that God had sent 
his angel and had shut the mouths of the lions. 
Daniel believed that this result was accomplished 
by a miracle. The occasion was fitting for a di- 
vine interposition. Daniel asserts his innocency 



THE INTREPID STATESMAN 249 

and rejoicingly affirms that he had received no hurt. 
With joy the king commanded that Daniel be 
taken out of the den, and with equal joy that the 
men who had accused him be cast therein, to- 
gether with their wives and children. The Bible 
does not commend the act of the heathen king ; it 
simply records the fact, a fact which was in har- 
mony with the common custom of the time and 
the country. The lions had mastery of Daniel's 
foes even before they reached the bottom of the 
den. Immediately the king sent forth his decree 
giving honor to Daniel, to the God of Daniel, and 
to the divine power and justice which had inter- 
posed for the delivery of God's servant. 

God, a little earlier in this history, when his 
three faithful servants, Shadrach, Meshach and 
Abed-nego had been cast into the fiercely heated 
furnace, sent One who was " like the Son of God," 
to cool the flames and to protect his children. 
Then Nebuchadnezzar recognized the God of these 
faithful men and made a decree that the people 
of every nation and language who should speak 
against the true God should be destroyed. God's 
resources for the protection of his children are 
numerous. He can prevent the flames from touch- 
ing their persons, and he can padlock the mouths 
of lions for their protection. Lions still stand in 
the pathway of duty for the children of God. But 
those who move forward in that pathway shall 
find that the lions are chained and their jaws 
locked, so that they can inflict no evil. No dan- 



250 THE INTREPID STATESMAN 

ger can come to any of us while we are in the 
path of duty. 

What are the names of the men who cast God's 
children into the fiery furnace ? You do not know. 
No one knows. They were never recorded. The 
memory of the wicked perisheth, but the righteous 
are in everlasting remembrance. Daniel's name 
shines in the firmament of biblical history as a star 
of brighest light and greatest magnitude ; but the 
names of his foes are unrecorded. Let us stand 
for duty, for truth, for God. All his enemies and 
ours shall perish. But as we read in the same 
book, " They that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament ; and they that turn many 
to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 



Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me 
with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy 
ways ; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. — Ps. ji : 

12, I J. 



XVI 

THIS psalm is known as one of the penitential 
psalms. It expresses an unfeigned peni- 
tence and a humble confession. It also voices an 
earnest prayer for restoration to the favor of God. 
It contains solemn vows of consecration for future 
conduct. It is the first of a series of psalms 
ascribed to David in what is called the second 
book of the Psalter, and written when his con- 
science was aroused by the prophet Nathan. Be- 
fore that time, we may well be assured, that re- 
morse had robbed him of joy, but now with the 
confession of his sin came the experience of for- 
giveness. Perowne reminds us that nowhere else 
in the Old Testament do we find so true a confes- 
sion, so humble a trust, and so unfeigned a peni- 
tence as here. He also affirms that this psalm 
and the thirty-second justify the title given to 
David as "the man after God's own heart." Al- 
though his sin had been great, it was not the sin 
of an utterly hardened and selfish man. It was 
rather the sin of one overtaken with evil and anx- 
ious now for the removal of guilt. If David 
was a great sinner he was also a great penitent. 
Carlyle rebukes those who magnify David's guilt 
and minimize his penitence. This psalm seems to 
have been written before the thirty-second. This 

253 



254 THE ROYAL PENITENT 

psalm is David's great confession ; that psalm is 
the record of the forgiveness which he obtained. 
It has been well said that in this psalm he is the 
prodigal saying, '' Father, I have sinned," and in 
the thirty-second psalm he is a son restored to his 
Father's heart looking up into his Father's loving 
face and saying, <' Thou art my hiding-place." 

I. We have, in the first place y in the text^ David's 
prayer. This prayer implies that the royal peti- 
tioner had lost the joy of salvation. The literal 
translation of his words is, " Cause the joy of thy 
salvation to return." The first verb is a causative 
in Hebrew, and it clearly implies that he previ- 
ously had possession of that for whose return he 
now prays. His communion with God had been 
interrupted by the sins which he had committed, 
and the joy of salvation was impossible when spir- 
itual communion was interrupted. Unfortunately 
the absence of joy as the result of sin is not an 
unknown experience in the Christian life. It may 
be caused by open and continuous sin against God 
as our Father and Saviour. Believers will then 
lose the joy of their first love ; they will lose the 
peace which comes from loving obedience to Christ ; 
their soul will then be sunless, joyless, and at times 
hopeless. The joy of salvation may be lost by a 
spirit of worldliness often when there is no marked 
act of disobedience against God. The world is 
not the friend of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ over- 
came the world and we in him may win a like vic- 
tory. He clearly taught us that there is and ever 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 255 

must be opposition between the spirit of worldli- 
ness and the spirit of godliness. The world creeps 
in upon us as a slow but deadly paralysis. It ad- 
ministers to us a soothing but dangerous opiate ; 
it wraps us in an anaesthetic slumber which will 
prove to be our spiritual death if we are not 
speedily aroused. There is in Brazil a plant 
known as the ^^ matador'' or murderer, which 
creeps along the ground and finally climbs a tree 
which it will hold fast in its embrace until the tree 
actually dies. The armlike tendrils surround the 
tree as the "■ matador " rises higher and higher 
and its ligatures grow larger and clasp the tree 
more tightly. The parasite finally sends out a 
flowering head above the struggling and dying 
tree, and its seeds later drop into the ground, again 
to do their work of death for other trees. What 
this deadly plant is to the trees of the forest, 
worldliness often is to Christians growing in the 
vineyard of the Lord. We must guard against it 
with the utmost watchfulness. It may destroy us 
as it did Demas, as it did Judas, and as it has de- 
stroyed thousands since the early days of the 
church. There can be no real joy in the Lord 
while this spirit of worldliness is in the hearts of 
believers. 

The absence of joy will also be caused by the 
neglect of duty. Duty well done is productive of 
increasing joy in Christian service. God demands 
nothing of his children which their best interests 
here and hereafter do not incline them to give in 



256 THE ROYAL PENITENT 

response to God's demand. Neglect of duty must 
assuredly bring darkness, sorrow, and death into 
the soul. There may come wlch temporal bless- 
ings leanness in the spiritual life ; there may come 
darkness in the spiritual life while the light of 
earthly prosperity shines upon our pathway. Happy 
are they who guard against the danger of neglect ; 
happy are they whose consciences are pricked with 
the remembrance of broken vows and neglected 
duties in the Christian life. God has made pain 
the messenger of danger which might threaten 
the body. Pain gives its warning and declares the 
need of an appropriate remedy. In the spiritual 
life we shall also feel the prick of neglected duty 
if our consciences are sensitive and our hearts are 
warm. One element of hope in a joyless Chris- 
tian life is the realization of its joylessness, and 
the earnest prayer that the absent joy may be re- 
stored. Nothing is sadder than that men dying 
of hunger sometimes have visions of tables spread 
bountifully with all that taste can desire ; nothing 
sadder than that men who are perishing with cold 
become benumbed with slumber, are conscious of 
neither discomfort nor danger, and wish only to 
lie down and sleep what will become the sleep of 
death. May God help us to remember that our 
first love may be restored and our early joy may 
be increased ! 

This thought leads us to another element in 
David's prayer, the expression of desire to have 
the joy of salvation restored. It is most impor- 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 25/ 

tant for our happiness and usefulness in the Chris- 
tian life that we should have joy in that life. We 
are not slaves, but freemen ; we are not servants, 
but friends. There is, of course, a sense in which 
we are the slaves of Jesus Christ. The Apostle 
Paul loved to describe himself as the '* slave of 
Jesus Christ," but such slavery is the most blessed 
kind of freedom ; such slavery is the noblest ele- 
ment in the grandest manhood. Never is one in 
a sadder case than when he is conscious of the ab- 
sence of Christian joy, and conscious also that he 
does not desire its return. If ever a man should 
pray it is when he has no desire to pray ; if ever 
a man is in danger it is when he thinks he is rich 
and increasing in goods and has no need of Christ 
and of the joy of salvation. There can be no 
strength in Christian service if joy is wanting. 
There is a divine philosophy in the statement of 
Scripture, '* the joy of the Lord is your strength." 
Joy in the Christian life is not simply a privilege ; 
it is a duty. The Apostle Paul commands us to 
rejoice and to rejoice always. There is power for 
God in the consciousness of fullness of life and 
joyousness in his service. 

The psalmist's prayer expresses also a desire 
that he might maintain a worthy character — " and 
uphold me with thy free spirit." The best inter- 
pretation of this clause refers the word spirit here 
to David's spirit and not to the Holy Spirit. The 
Holy Spirit is not excluded, but the primary ref- 
erence is to the spirit of the petitioner himself ; 

R 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 



the reference is to David's spirit as acted on by 
the Spirit of God. The words ''that thy" are 
added by the translators. The word rendered 
"free" properly means willing, spontaneous, 
prompt, voluntary, and then noble and princely. 
David had acted an utterly unworthy, unsoldierly, 
unmanly, unprincely, and ungodly part. He did 
well to be ashamed of the course which he had pur- 
sued. Now he prays to be upheld in an altogether 
different spirit. He prays that God would give 
him a willing, noble, manly spirit ; that God would 
enable him to preserve and to manifest the spirit 
of willing and ready obedience to all the commands 
of God. He prayed for grace that he might stand 
firm and strong in the service of his divine King. 
This is always a proper obj ect of desire and prayer. 
The inconsistent man is always a weak man. How 
can he rebuke sin while he lives in sin ? How 
can he recommend holiness while he lives in the 
neglect of holiness ? What he builds up with one 
hand he destroys with the other hand. What he 
teaches with his lip he denies with his life. The 
man who lives consistently before God will live 
influentially before men. This was eminently an 
appropriate element in David's prayer ; it is a 
quality fitting in the prayers of God's people to- 
day. Good men have fallen ; the best man, if 
neglectful of God and unwatchful of Satan, may 
fall. We have great need to listen to the divine 
exhortation, " Let him that thinketh he standeth, 
take heed lest he fall." We must daily, hourly. 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 259 

watch and pray, lest we be led into temptation. 
Let us to-day make this part of David's prayer our 
own, praying that we may be upheld in a willing, 
prompt, generous, noble, and obedient spirit before 
God and men. 

2. We have, in the second place, David' s promise. 
As an expression of gratitude to God, he promises 
that he will teach transgressors God's ways. It is 
interesting to see how the personal element is here 
introduced into this promise. He himself will en- 
gage in this blessed work. No one was now more 
fit for that work than he. He had wandered 
away from noble and manly conduct ; he had 
sinned against a brave and loyal soldier ; he had 
sinned against womanhood ; he had sinned against 
himself; and he had sinned against God. But 
when the sense of forgiveness and the joy of sal- 
vation came into his soul, he was ready to use his 
painful experience to teach others the way of peni- 
tence and peace. Men must themselves be par- 
doned before they can tell others of him who will 
pardon their sins. The blind cannot safely lead 
the blind. Men need to be taught by their fellow- 
men ; and all who are taught of God should be 
willing to become teachers of men. David was a 
king, he was at the head of great armies ; still he 
was willing to be the teacher of great sinners. 
The best we have should be given to our fellow- 
men in service for Jesus who has redeemed us 
with his precious blood. David could now show 
to those about him the fearful consequences of 



260 THE ROYAL PENITENT 

sin ; he could also beautifully explain the nature 
of true repentance, and he could eloquently de- 
scribe the full and free forgiveness which God 
promises to the truly penitent. After the Apostle 
Peter had fallen under the power of temptation, 
and then had turned back from the evil way, the 
Saviour said to him, " And when thou art con- 
verted strengthen thy brethren." A similar duty 
rests upon each of us. When we have been pro- 
tected from any evil and have been made the re- 
cipients of any good, we are to give others the 
benefit of our two-fold experience. There is noth- 
ing selfish in religion ; the more we give away the 
more we have. The more we strive to keep for 
ourselves the less we have for ourselves or for 
others. There is a profound philosophy in all the 
commands of God to his children, and in all the ex- 
periences of men in their efforts to keep God's 
commandments. 

David promises to teach transgressors. All 
men are in some sense transgressors of the law of 
God. The more men transgress the more they 
ought to be taught by those who are able to im- 
part spiritual gifts. The possession of spiritual 
gifts is God's call to us for their bestowal. The 
need of spiritual gifts is man's call to us to give 
them needed help. Deep calls unto deep, the 
depth of sin in men to the depth of mercy in God. 

David will also teach transgressors the very best 
of truths — he will teach them God's ways. What 
particular ways of God shall he most appropriately 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 26 1 

teach to the transgressors of God's law ? He may 
well begin by teaching the certainty of God's ways 
of punishment. God will not be mocked ; what- 
soever a man soweth that shall he also reap. We 
cannot separate between sin and sorrow. Sorrow 
must follow sin as shadow its substance ; as well 
might a man hurl himself from the top of a lofty 
cliff, and expect by some trick of legerdemain to 
escape being dashed to pieces on the rocks below, 
as to sin against God and not suffer the conse- 
quences of his sin. There is a law of moral as 
truly as of physical agriculture, inseparably con- 
necting the harvest reaped with the grain sown. 
But, thank God, David could also teach transgres- 
sors God's ways of pardon; he could remind them 
that God "abundantly pardons," when the sinner 
forsakes his way and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts. He had experienced the fullness of 
God's pardon. As Mr. Spurgeon has said in his 
comments on this verse : " Reclaimed poachers 
make the best gamekeepers. Huntingdon's de- 
gree of S. S., or Sinner Saved, is more needful for 
a soul-winning evangelist than either M. A., or D. 
D." He could also most sweetly teach God's 
ways of upholding and of blessing penitent sinners. 
This was a valuable experience for David. God 
can overrule even our wanderings from him so as 
to make them the channel of rich blessings to our 
fellow-men. 

3. We have, in the third place, David's persua- 
sion — ''and sinners shall be converted unto thee." 



262 THE ROYAL PENITENT 

Of this result David now had no doubt. He was 
persuaded that he would reach and influence sin- 
ners. There was now, in some sense, a bond of 
sympathy between him and transgressors ; they 
would learn from his example the misery of sin 
and the manner in which divine mercy might be 
found. Having turned to God himself and having 
experienced divine forgiveness he is now able to 
warn and to win other souls from sin to God. He 
was fully persuaded that through his instrumen- 
tality transgressors would be moved to action. The 
word translated " shall be converted " is not a 
passive verb ; it is an active form of the verb ex- 
pressing the idea, shall turn or return. He be- 
lieved that rebels, traitors, and apostates should 
now return to the Lord whom they had neglected, 
opposed, and despised. It is important to call 
attention to the fact that this is the active and not 
the passive verb. The work of turning has to be 
done by transgressors themselves ; they are not to 
wait until God turns them ; they are themselves 
to turn. Having walked away from God they are 
now to turn and walk toward God. This is the 
end to be sought in all conversions. Men have 
been wandering from God ; they must now return 
to God. Our labors on behalf of transgressors 
are comparatively worthless unless this sublime 
result is secured. We may not cease in our en- 
deavors on their behalf until they have actually 
abandoned their evil ways, returned unto God, and 
received his abundant pardon. 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 263 

This end David felt sure would be accomplished 
in the efforts he promised to make ; he believed 
that the return of transgressors would be com- 
plete ; that they should indeed return unto God. 
If they stopped short of coming thus unto God, 
their return or conversion would be but partial and 
so practically worthless. It is well that men be 
moved toward reformation ; but we must not be 
satisfied with partial or even apparently complete 
reformation. Regeneration and not mere reforma- 
tion is to be sought by us on their behalf and by 
themselves on their own behalf. This is the sub- 
lime and glorious end at which we and they are 
constantly to aim. 

These are, indeed, remarkable words which we 
have been studying. Too many of us, it is to be 
feared, like David may have lost the joy of salva- 
tion. Many start out with enthusiasm and vigor 
in the Christian life and run well for a season ; 
they then drop out of the Christian race and seldom 
frequent the ways of Zion. Their conduct is one 
of the greatest sorrows in pastoral life. Were a 
pastor to look only on that side of his work his 
heart would break with its continuous aching. 
He would feel disposed to surrender his commis- 
sion, and never to counsel his younger brethren to 
enter the Christian ministry. But we ought not 
to look only on that side of Christian life and 
work. Others begin well, continue loyal, and end 
the Christian course in triumph. Doubtless, how- 
ever, there are those present this morning who are 



264 THE ROYAL PENITENT 

walking in gloom. They remember with a well- 
defined longing the joy of their first love. They 
dwell occasionally with sadness upon the joy which 
they experienced in the day of their espousal to 
Christ, and occasionally they pray as does the psalm- 
ist, that the joy of salvation might be restored. 
This is an appropriate prayer. Is there one pres- 
ent from whom the light of God's countenance is 
withdrawn ? There really is no mystery in this 
experience ; there is here a relation between cause 
and effect which is as invariable as in other rela- 
tions in life. The cause of our spiritual darkness 
may readily be discovered, and it may be wholly 
removed. Be frank with yourself ; be honest with 
God ; face the matter in a genuine and manly way. 
With a deep sense both of privilege and duty re- 
move the cause; no Christian can have joy who 
lives away from God. As well might a man ex- 
pect light and heat from the sun while he insisted 
upon living in a dark cave. How unreasonable he 
would be to complain of the dampness, darkness, 
and death which he would experience, while he re- 
solutely refused to come out of the cave into God's 
sunshine. O man, the light of God's reconciled 
countenance may be lifted upon thee ; let that 
light fall now upon thine own upturned face. Come 
out of the dark cave of self and sin ; let the sun- 
shine of God give thee a baptism of blessing in 
light and warmth to-day. Never did father wait 
for the return of his prodigal son with the gentle- 
ness and loving-kindness with which God will re- 



THE ROYAL PENITENT 26$ 

ceive thee, if thou wilt but go to his fatherly arms 
and heart to-day. Have you come back in this 
spirit ? Then your joy is full ; then your duty is 
clear ; go out to bless others. Freely ye have re- 
ceived, freely give. God bestows upon us that we 
may bestow upon others. Havmg labored to teach 
transgressors God's ways, let us with unquestion- 
ing faith expect immediate and blessed results. 
Sinners shall be converted unto God ; and angels 
shall rejoice over these returning penitents. As 
sure as God is God, we shall reap if we faint not. 
Then to-day let us make this prayer offered so 
long ago our own, this promise our own, this 
persuasion our own, and we and other penitent 
transgressors shall have unspeakable good, and the 
great and gentle and forgiving God shall have un- 
ending glory. 



THE PRACTICAL THINKER 



/ thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testi- 
monies. — Ps. iig : jQ. 



XVII 

THE psalm from which this text is taken is 
known as one of the alphabetical psalms ; 
it is also familiar to us as the longest psalm in the 
Psalter. The characteristic of alphabetical psalms 
is that the first eight verses begin with the first 
letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the next eight with 
the second letter, and this method is pursued 
throughout the twenty-two letters of that alphabet. 
It is well understood by expositors that the fifty- 
seventh verse of this psalm begins a new division, 
the division indicated by the letter ''cheth." It is 
quite evident that the portion of this psalm begin- 
ning with this verse and going to the end of the 
sixtieth verse, is an account of the work of divine 
grace on a human heart. We have here a state- 
ment of the divine operation in religious experience, 
from the first dawn of its heavenly light to its full- 
orbed splendor. Had the order of religious ex- 
perience been followed rather than the alphabetical 
order, the fifty-ninth verse — the text on this occa- 
sion — would have come before the fifty-seventh 
verse. In the text we have the sinner reflecting 
on his ways ; in the fifty-seventh verse we have him 
declaring that God is his portion and that he would 
keep the words of God, The text seems clearly to 
refer to the great change which we usually call 

269 



270 THE PRACTICAL THINKER 

conversion ; and perhaps it is a description of the 
author's own religious experience. The first step 
in a true religious life he took when he began to 
reflect on the course he was pursuing and the 
character he was forming. Then he paused, as 
did the prodigal son, who reflected on his former 
life and his present condition. Such reflection al- 
most invariably precedes the return to duty and 
to God. There is hope for a man when he comes 
earnesty to look at the tendency of his life, and 
at the consequences which must inevitably follow 
disobedience to God. As a result of the reflec- 
tion suggested in the fifty-ninth verse, we have 
the actual obedience described in the sixtieth 
verse, and the confession in the fifty-seventh verse. 
Let us notice the truths taught in the text in the 
order of their presentation. 

I. We have the fact of earnest thought — "/ 
thought'' on my ways. The power of thought is 
man's royal prerogative ; it allies him to angels 
and to God. It is one of the evidences that he 
was created in the image of God and for compan- 
ionship with God. God recognizes the glory and 
divinity of this superb endowment ; and he appeals 
to this angelic possession. We therefore have God 
speaking to us through Isaiah, saying, *' Come 
now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord ; 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." God does not hesitate to 
submit his claims to the consideration of thought- 



THE PRACTICAL THINKER 27 1 

ful men and women. In another passage in 
Isaiah we are reminded of the distinction between 
God's thoughts and ours : "For my thoughts are 
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my 
ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are 
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than 
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." 
It is the glory of man that he should think God's 
thoughts. When science is studied with a truly 
reverent spirit, whether it be astronomy, geology, 
botany, or any other natural science, the student is 
really thinking God's thoughts. He is to some 
degree living over again God's life. All great ad- 
vancements in invention are but the incarnations 
of thought. The whole world was once a thought 
in the mind of God ; the world to-day is that 
thought materialized. The Corliss engine was 
once a thought in the mind of its inventor. Tele- 
graphs, telephones, and phonographs were once 
thoughts, dreams, ideas ; they are now these 
thoughts, dreams, and ideas translated into visi- 
ble, legible, audible, and practical forms. Much 
has already been accomplished in the way of in- 
tellectual development, when men are induced to 
think. Great thoughts sometimes come plowing 
their way through the soul, bringing aliment to 
the brain ; such thoughts mark a blessed epoch in 
human experience. For such experiences as these, 
men ought to be profoundly grateful ; such thoughts 
lift us to a higher plane of life and enable us more 
fully to appreciate our kinship with God. 



2/2 THE PRACTICAL THINKER 

But thought is too seldom exercised in regard 
to divine things. One of the charges which God 
brought against his people in ancient times was 
their want of thought concerning his claims and 
their own duties. He was obliged to say, "The 
ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's 
crib ; but Israel doth not know, my people doth 
not consider." His people would not understand 
his purposes regarding them and their privileges 
toward him. They often exhibited the dullness 
and insensibility of animals rather than the re- 
sponsive affection of children. The same thought 
was more than once in the mind of the great 
Teacher. He echoed in his Sermon on the Mount 
the charge made in Isaiah hundreds of years be- 
fore. There is no lack of opportunities of thought 
if men will but keep their eyes, ears, and hearts 
open. The whole world is voiceful of God's 
thoughts to him who is attentive to the heavenly 
speech. Christ made the lilies of the field preach- 
ers to unduly anxious hearts. " Consider the lilies 
of the field how they grow," said the teacher who 
spake as never man spake. He found a text in 
every incident of life, however familiar. To him 
the whole earth was a vast cathedral, resonant 
with the voice and radiant with the glory of God. 
The stars, the flowers, the seasons, providences, 
and varied experiences, all declare God's presence 
and reveal his purpose, if we are but obedient to 
their instruction. But men dislike to think on re- 
ligious things. They do not dare to go with a 



THE PRACTICAL THINKER 2/3 

lighted candle into the chambers of their own 
heart. Self-examination leads to self-condemna- 
tion. Men are cowardly in relation to their own 
inner life. They are unwilling to sit alone with 
their own hearts, communing with themselves and 
with God. Their unwillingness in this respect is 
an evidence of their guiltiness. It is humiliating 
to be obliged to make this acknowledgment ; but 
its truth no intelligent man can doubt. 

When thought is properly exercised on religious 
things there is hope of a man's future. It is 
better that men should violently oppose the gospel 
than that they should listen indifferently when it 
is proclaimed. Vigorous resistance in such cases 
is more encouraging than apathetic hearing. Na- 
poleon encountered a mud fort in Egypt, and he 
was powerless in its presence. Had it been made 
of wood, he could have fired it ; had it been made 
of stone, he could have shivered it. But it was 
made of mud, and the greater the number of mis- 
siles which he fired into it the more did he in- 
crease its powers of resistance. Stolid apathy on 
the part of unconverted men gives less hope to 
Christian workers than vigorous antipathy. The 
opiates of indifference are more deadly than the 
stimulants of skepticism. When the psalmist 
truly thought on his ways he made haste and de- 
layed not to keep God's commandments. When 
the prodigal son " came to himself " he soon said, 
*'I will arise and go to my father." Previous to 
that time he had not been truly himself. He was 



2/4 THE PRACTICAL THINKER 

like a man in a dream ; he was like a man who had 
been stunned, like a man who was paralyzed, like 
a man who was hypnotized. There was hope for 
him the moment he fully realized his wretched 
condition. The moment that one comes to his true 
self he comes to God ; and when he comes to God 
he also finds a still higher self of which previously 
he had been ignorant. When the fascinating spell 
of sin is broken, we may expect to see the liberated 
soul turn to God. 

2. We notice the subject of thought on the part 
of the psalmist — ^^ on my ways.'' This certainly 
was a very personal subject of thought. It is easy 
enough to think upon the ways of other men, but 
extremely difficult to think on our own ways when 
they are evil ways. Love of evil blinds us to the 
nature of evil ; love of evil warps our judgment 
and thus vitiates its decisions. There is no diffi- 
culty in finding many men who are greatly con- 
cerned regarding the doubtful ways of other 
people. They earnestly inquire, " what shall 
others do .? " They are able to give instruction to 
others, but are unwilling to apply the same in- 
struction to their own sinful courses. It is humil- 
iating that we are so often ready to see the mote in 
our brother's eye when we are utterly ignorant of 
the beam in our own eye. We can readily set up 
a standard of conduct for other church-members 
to which we are utterly unwilling to conform our 
own lives. The Apostle Peter was greatly con- 
cerned regarding the future of the Apostle John. 



THE PRACTICAL THINKER 275 

We need not charge Peter with mere curiosity 
when in regard to John he asked the question, 
" Lord, and what shall this man do ? " Christ had 
just predicted the sort of death which Peter should 
undergo ; and now Peter becomes extremely curi- 
ous as to the manner in which John should die. 
We may well believe that his question arose from 
motives of true friendship, rather than was 
prompted by mere curiosity or by unfraternal 
jealousy. Nevertheless the answer of Christ was, 
''What is that to thee; follow thou me." The 
rebuke implied in our Lord's answer we ought all 
to feel when we neglect our own duty because of 
inquiries regarding the duties of other men. It is 
so easy to condemn in our brother what we con- 
done in ourselves. 

It is to be observed also that our ways is a very 
broad subject of thought. It touches our life at 
many points ; our '' ways " in this sense would in- 
clude our entire life. What subjects of thought 
we have in our ways of neglect of divine duties ! 
We must with shame often reflect on our ways of 
open, willful, and continuous transgression. We 
have sinned against light and opportunity. We 
have disobeyed God when his will was clearly re- 
vealed and our duty was strongly emphasized. 
We have broken our own most solemn promises 
to God and our frequent pledges to ourselves. We 
have earnestly determined to abandon certain 
courses of conduct, and yet we have found our- 
selves returning to them, notwithstanding our 



2^6 THE PRACTICAL THINKER 

promises and our prayers. The language of the 
Apostle Paul, *' O wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " 
has often been the most appropriate vehicle of 
our emotions. Reflection on our "ways" in all 
these respects may well bring the blush of shame 
to our cheeks. It would be easy to speak with 
severity of others were it not that conscience 
rebukes us for similar forms of disobedience. We 
ought also to think of our " ways " in their rela- 
tion to God's mercy. How long-suffering God has 
been toward us ! How patient in the midst of 
our neglect of him and our open violation of his 
commands ! The memory of his goodness ought 
to lead us to deep repentance. Let us return 
again unto God from our numerous wanderings. 

Reflection on our ways is also a very humiliating 
subject of thought. The psalmist turned his 
ways upside down when they became the subject 
of earnest reflection, because previous to that 
time they had been wrong side up. The word 
implies that he deeply pondered them, that he 
viewed his conduct on all its sides ; and that he 
dwelt upon the course he had pursued with fixed, 
abiding, and penetrating thought. Some suppose 
that there is a reference here to the work of em- 
broidering, where the figure must appear the same 
on both sides. The work must be very exact, 
every flaw must be covered or removed, and in 
order that the work may be carefully done, the 
cloth must be turned on each side as often as the 



THE PRACTICAL THINKER 27/ 

needle is used. With equal closeness and careful- 
ness did the psalmist examine his conduct. He 
footed up his accounts as the arithmetician foots 
up columns of figures. Most instructive is the 
language here employed as to the carefulness of 
thought which is here suggested. Would to God 
that we could exercise equal diligence regarding 
the tendency of our acts and the trend of our 
thoughts in their relations to God ! 

3. Let us notice the result of the psalmisfs 
thought — ^^ and turned my feet unto thy testimonies^ 
After the discovery which he made he found 
himself the proper subject of God's displeasure. 
He then abandoned his evil ways, took God's word 
for his guide, and started out in the way of salva- 
tion. This was a personal turning — the psalmist 
turned ; it was not God who turned. God did not 
need to turn or in any way to change his course. 
The psalmist employed his own will and exercised 
his personal freedom in the choice he made, and in 
the new course he pursued. He did not wait for 
God to turn him, but he himself paused, reflected, 
and turned from evil and so returned unto God. 
A similar course of thinking and acting is required 
to-day, when a sinner reflects on his ways and re- 
turns unto his God. He must actually turn from 
sin ; there must be a genuine and personal return- 
ing unto God. There must be obedience to the 
divine command uttered by Isaiah, ^' Let the 
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man 
his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, 



2/8 THE PRACTICAL THINKER 

and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, 
for he will abundantly pardon." To get out of 
self is to get into God. To act without due 
thought is foolishness ; but to think without right 
action is sinfulness. This turning is indeed by 
God's loving help, for without him we can do noth- 
ing. But let it never be forgotten that it is man 
who turns, man who repents, man who changes, 
and man who returns unto God whom he had long 
neglected. 

It is observable, also, that this is a practical 
turning. We are told that the psalmist turned his 
feet unto God's testimonies. He was not satisfied 
with turning his hands ; the hand can be turned 
when the body is not moved. He was not satis- 
fied with turning the eye ; the eye may be turned 
when even the head is but little moved. He turned 
his heart toward God and then his feet moved in 
obedience to the will of God. The desire of his 
soul was toward God's testimonies, and then his 
outward action corresponded with his inward de- 
cision. To turn the feet is to return the whole 
body. Strictly speaking, there is a difference be- 
tween conversion and regeneration. Regeneration 
is the inward experience; conversion is the out- 
ward expression. Regeneration is the act of 
God's Spirit working through the truth on the 
heart; conversion is the obedience of that heart 
to the will of God as made known by the word 
and Spirit of God. We are, while enemies to 
God, walking with our backs toward him and our 



THE PRACTICAL THINKER 2/9 

faces toward evil ; when we listen aright to the 
divine voice we "right about face," turning our 
backs to sin and our faces toward truth, purity, 
God, and heaven. Conversion is a most practical 
act in our entire being. When it really takes 
place it cannot be misunderstood by any intelligent 
observer. May God help all to-day who have not 
yet turned toward God, to *' right about face " at 
this moment, to reverse the course of their lives, 
and to walk in the narrow path which leads to 
everlasting life ! 

This was also a prompt as well as a personal and 
a practical turning ; for the psalmist made haste 
and delayed not to turn his feet unto God's testi- 
monies. All true reformation implies regeneration. 
Regeneration reveals itself in conversion. Doubt- 
less the psalmist had often hesitated, previous to 
the conversion described in the text and context ; 
but now there was no delay. He offered no 
excuse. Procrastination is not only the thief of 
time, but the murderer of souls. He did not 
defer duty till "a more convenient season." 
Neither ought we. I never will urge unconverted 
men and women to go home, to read the Bible, 
and to pray ; they may not live to reach their 
homes. Now is the day of salvation ; now is the 
accepted time. Instant and unconditional surren- 
der to God is the duty and privilege of every un- 
converted man and woman. I dare not compro- 
mise with you at this point. If all convicted sin- 
ners immediately turned to God with their whole 



280 THE PRACTICAL THINKER 

hearts, they would be immediately converted. 
The trouble with men is that they delay, that they 
will not break away from their sins, that they 
excuse themselves for their evil courses and thus 
refuse to seek God. Like Felix, they are asking 
for a more "convenient season." Conversion ought 
to begin in serious consideration, and such consid- 
eration we may hope will end in true conversion. 
Most suggestive are the words of the sixtieth 
verse. The original which is translated *' delayed 
not " is more emphatic than can well be expressed 
in English speech. The psalmist really says, I 
did not stand ''what, what, whatting." The 
thought is often expressed by us when we say that 
we were not guilty of "shillyshallying." Would 
to God that all who hear me this day would so act 
that the language, descriptive of the psalmist's 
course, could be truthfully applied to their con- 
duct ! Behold the Father whom you have so 
long despised and disobeyed ! He stands waiting, 
O prodigal, to welcome thee home. He has come 
out to meet thee. He is ready to fall upon thy 
neck with the kiss of love and the words of for- 
giveness. I beseech you all to come home to- 
day. Think on your ways ; turn your feet unto 
God's testimonies ; make haste and delay not to 
keep his commandments ; and as God lives, his 
peace shall come into your heart, his joy into your 
life, and the assurance of acceptance with him 
now and of dwelling forever with him hereafter, 
will be your sweet experience. 



THE EMPTY TOMB 



Come, see the place where the Lord lay. — Matt. 28 : 6. 



XVIII 

ONCE more we greet with garland, song, and 
prayer, our risen, victorious, and ever-blessed 
Redeemer. We prostrate ourselves at his feet, 
while his "All hail" salutes our ear. Every Sun- 
day is the Lord's Day, and commemorates his res- 
urrection; but it is fitting that once a year we 
should earnestly and tenderly emphasize this glo- 
rious fact. 

The significance of Easter it is difficult to over- 
estimate. It is the Christian Passover, and the 
greatest of all the holy days of the Christian 
church. 

It was long believed that Christ would on Easter 
morning come again in power and in great glory. 
In the Russian Church, after impressive ceremo- 
nies during the night, the day begins with the 
jubilant salutation, "The Lord is risen" ; and the 
joyous response is made, " He is risen indeed." 
To-day angels rhight well sing anew their songs of 
praise to their Lord and our Redeemer ; to-day the 
First Begotten from the dead comes forth from the 
conflict crowned with victory ; to-day hell and the 
grave are defeated ; to-day the kingdom of dark- 
ness is spoiled ; to-day the Son of Man is declared 
with power to be the Son of God ; to-day the church 
wears the robes and crown of royalty and glory. 

283 



284 THE EMPTY TOMB 

All hail the day when our divine King marches 
forth bearing in his girdle the keys of death and 
hell, and wearing on his brow the crown of tran- 
scendent victory ! This morning I shall ask you to 
visit the empty tomb of our Lord and Redeemer. 
We shall find there much of interest and instruc- 
tion, and much to suggest thoughts of gratitude and 
love, thoughts of certain triumph and of blessed 
victory. 

It will be profitable for us to meditate for a lit- 
tle on the invitation given in this passage. It is 
interesting to observe at the outset that it is the 
invitation of an angel. The angels were our Lord's 
devout worshipers before he left the bosom of the 
Father and the courts of heaven to become the 
Saviour of men. Angels followed him on his 
downward journey from the throne of God to the 
manger in Bethlehem. They made, in solo and in 
chorus, celestial music on the night when the 
Christ was born. Doubtless they were often with 
him during his earthly sojourn. We may well 
believe that they honored the scene of his baptism 
by their seraphic presence. We know that they 
ministered unto him amid the trials, the humilia- 
tions, and the agonies of Gethsemane ; and now 
we find them keeping watch at his grave. One 
was at the head and the other at the foot of the 
place where the Lord had lain. An angel rolled 
back the stone from the door and sat upon it ; 
an angel whose countenance was like lightning, 
and whose raiment was white as snow. No won- 



THE EMPTY TOMB 285 

der that at that great sight the keepers did shake, 
and became as dead men ; but when the devout 
and loving women approached, the angels had for 
them messages of tender encouragement and of 
earnest hope. The angels knew well whom these 
women sought. They, therefore, invited them to 
come that they may see the place where the Lord 
lay. Later, angels commanded them to go and 
tell his disciples that he had risen from the dead. 
Angels felt honored in being the servants of their 
Lord and the servants of his people. He is their 
king as he is ours. Perhaps he is not their Saviour 
as he is ours ; but nevertheless they owned his 
authority and gave him the reverence which is his 
due. We might well imagine the conversation 
which was held by these angels as they spoke to 
each other while watching by his grave. They re- 
joiced in honoring the spot which was honored by 
their Lord and Master, while he lay in the power 
of death and the grave. We may well listen to 
this angelic invitation and go under this heavenly 
guidance to the place where our Lord lay. 

It is also the tomb of the greatest visitant which 
earth or hades ever knew. Christ was the King of 
men as he is the Lord of heaven. His tomb is 
the shrine of the loftiest genius as truly as the altar 
of the tenderest love. Men visit with softened 
tread the tombs of earth's heroes, whether it be 
the tomb of a Napoleon, a Lincoln, or a Grant ; but 
never was there a tomb so conspicuously that of 
gentleness and greatness, of loftiness and lowliness. 



286 THE EMPTY TOMB 

of divinity and humanity, as is the tomb of Jesus 
Christ. Tell us not of Palestine's tombs of the 
kings, not of India's glorious Taj, not of Italy's 
Campo Santo, not of Russia's tombs of the Czars, 
not of France's Pere la Chaise, not of Scotland's 
Necropolis nor of her Greyfriars' churchyard, not 
of England's Frogmore and Westminster Abbey, 
Joseph's tomb is the tomb of humanity and the 
tomb of divinity. It is the unique tomb of the 
world. 

The world is now beginning to recognize Christ 
as its profoundest thinker, its wisest leader, and 
its divinest sufferer. He is ruling the thoughts of 
men to-day with a kingly sceptre and with an ir- 
resistible power. The world will never go beyond 
the Sermon on the Mount either for breadth of 
thought, clearness of vision, tenderness of state- 
ment, or divineness of spirit. Christ rules to-day 
as king on the throne because once he died as a 
sacrifice on the cross. This is the tomb of the 
world's greatest man. Compared with him all 
other great men shrink into insignificance, and the 
lustre of their genius is lost in darkness. Why 
will men worship heroes, and refuse to give the 
homage of their hearts to Jesus Christ ? Why will 
men glorify the destroyers of life, and refuse to 
give their love to him who came not to destroy, 
but to save ^ Why will they glorify weak and sin- 
ful men, and refuse to give glory to him whose 
perfection as man is without spot, and whose di- 
vinity is clearly proved by his perfect humanity } 



THE EMPTY TOMB 28/ 

This is a sweet and blessed spot. We cannot 
accept this invitation literally to-day, because the 
hand of time, the hand of the infidel, and the hand of 
the vandal has so obscured the place that we can- 
not be sure of its location. Little did the angels 
who first gave that invitation know that it would 
sound through the ages to come, and would finally 
reach our ears in this far-off country and in this 
distant century. The invitation is sweet to our 
ears, notwithstanding the uncertainties regarding 
the locality and the changes in its characteristics. 
Never was grave so charm ful as that of the Son 
of God. He has perfumed it by his presence. 
Sweeter breath than that borne upon the gales of 
Ceylon salutes us as we are conscious of the holy 
fragrance of that blessed tomb. Our divine Lord 
never saw corruption. Sweet and blessed is this 
tomb. Voiceful is it in its silence, and eloquent 
in its emptiness, as with the loving women we 
draw near to it this morning in obedience to the 
invitation of the angels. 

Standing beside this empty tomb there is much 
of interest that we may observe. The now sainted 
Spurgeon, in one of his earlier sermons, called at- 
tention to the fact that it is a costly tomb. He 
was quite right in emphasizing this fact. No com- 
mon grave was that of our divine Lord. His was 
not the grave of a pauper ; he was buried in no 
potter's field ; his was truly the tomb of a king. 
The prophecy was made seven hundred years be- 
fore that he should make " his grave with the 



288 THE EMPTY TOMB 

^ 

wicked, and with the rich in his death." Nothing 
apparently could be more unhkely'of fulfillment 
than this ancient prophecy ; but it was fulfilled to 
the very letter. A princely tomb was the tomb of 
the Prince of Life. This fact is the more wonder- 
ful when we remember that in life he had not 
where to lay his head. No sumptuous palace was 
his, no crown of gold, no sandals of silver were his. 
Why does he not fill a pauper's grave ? Why 
should he be with the rich in his death ? Why 
should many difficulties in the fulfillment of that 
ancient prophecy be overcome that our divine Lord 
might sleep in a new and costly tomb ? Is there 
not here a sweet suggestion for every true believer.? 
If Jesus is to be buried, the rich Joseph of Ari- 
mathea and Nicodemus of the Sanhedrin shall as- 
sist in that burial. His work of expiation is now 
finished. No more shall shame, buffeting, and 
reproach be visited upon his sacred person. When 
he said, "It is finished," his experience of con- 
tempt, contumely, and ignominy from men is ended. 
His body will be embalmed with precious spicery 
and robed in costly shroud for the tomb of honor, 
and not the tomb of disgrace. Courtly hands will 
bear the sacred head, and womanly tenderness will 
wipe the pierced brow ; and thus with love and 
reverence will the sacred body be laid in the new- 
hewn sepulchre. Loving hearts will follow as 
mourners, and the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea 
will become the tomb of Jesus the King. 

We observe also that this tomb is in a garden. 



THE EMPTY TOMB 289 

This is inded a striking circumstance. Not in gar- 
dens do we expect to find tombs. It is true that 
occasionally the tombs of kings were in gardens, 
but such occasions were rare and were associated 
with princely splendor and royal greatness. As 
we look about us we see clearly that this is no place 
of graves. Here are no other memorials of the 
dead ; there is but a single tomb and that in a gar- 
den. There is here a strange mingling of oppo- 
sites. Gardens suggest life, growth, beauty ; tombs 
suggest decay, death, corruption. This mingling 
of opposites is suggestive of all experiences of life. 
Every garden in life has its tomb, whether it be the 
garden of the heart, of the home, or of the church. 
Every path leads to some tomb. This fact is the 
sad side of earthly experience ; but there is a bright 
side as truly as there is a dark side. For while 
there is a tomb in every garden, there may be a 
garden around every tomb. That fact is inexpres- 
sibly sweet. Meet it was that Christ, the Lord of 
life and glory, should be buried in a garden. Was 
it not in a garden that sin and death were born } 
Ought it not to be in a garden that sin and death 
should die, and life and love should have a new 
birth, to die no more } In Eden death won his first 
victory, and in the garden near Calvary, death re- 
ceived his last stroke from the great conqueror. 
This garden suggests the other garden, the para- 
dise of God, where sin can never enter, where sor- 
row is unknown, and where love lives on rejoicing 
in the immediate presence of God. 



290 THE EMPTY TOMB 

If we observe more closely we shall see that the 
grave clothes are arranged in order, and the napkin 
is laid in a place by itself. These facts are full of 
suggestion to every thoughtful mind. We see 
clearly that this tomb was not rifled, that Christ 
did not hastily arise, and that loving hands disposed 
of the cerements of the grave, and folded by itself 
the napkin that was around his thorn-pierced brow. 
Doubtless our Lord showed in this way his appre- 
ciation of order and propriety, and thus taught les- 
sons of homely instruction while he was proving 
truths of highest and divinest importance. Clumsy 
was the story told by the soldiers that his disciples 
stole him away while they slept. The condition 
of the tomb was itself a contradiction to their fool- 
ish affirmation. Glorious was the rising from the 
grave, and amid its majestic elements was regard 
for the proprieties of life in these humble details. 
No human eye saw Christ rise ; the angels did not 
say that they saw him rise. Evermore in silence 
are God's sublimest deeds wrought. Perhaps when 
the angel rolled away the stone and sat upon it, 
the divine Lord came forth without haste, without 
confusion, in the calmness of conscious power, and 
in the majesty of divine achievement. 

All the surroundings of the tomb are full of 
suggestion. It was cut in a rock, as was fitting 
for the temporary resting-place of him who is the 
Rock of Ages. It was a new tomb, as became 
him of virgin mother born, and of unique life as 
well as unique birth. Had another ever been 



THE EMPTY TOMB 29 1 

buried in that tomb it might have been claimed, 
as in the case of the man who touched Ehsha's 
bones, that so Christ arose from the dead ; but 
none other ever slept in that tomb. It was re- 
served for the exclusive use of the mighty mon- 
arch of death's domain as of earth's dominion. 
We may well bless God for all the circumstances 
of that wondrous burial, that costly tomb, and this 
glorious resurrection. Joseph intended the tomb 
for his own family ; but it became the tomb of 
heaven's king, and so is immortal among the 
tombs of earth. 

We observe also, and chiefly, that this is now 
an empty tomb. The angels invite the women to 
come that they may behold the place where the 
Lord lay, not where the Lord Hes. This is the 
greatest and sublimest truth ever taught the chil- 
dren of men. The doctrine of our Lord's resur- 
rection is the foundation stone of the Christian 
church, and that stone is laid in the empty grave 
of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more certain than 
that Jesus Christ was truly dead. In that rocky 
tomb, motionless and dead, the mighty Redeemer 
lay ; and nothing is more certain than that this 
dead Christ arose from the grave to die no more. 
As well might we attempt to deny the existence of 
Caesar or Napoleon as the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ ; than that no historical event is more cer- 
tain. He burst Caesar's seal, and proved that the 
rocky walls of Joseph's tomb could not imprison 
the Lord of life and glory. 



292 THE EMPTY TOMB 

The resurrection of Christ has changed the 
literature, the sculpture, the painting, and the 
music of the church and of the world. It teaches 
us great lessons, some of which we do well to em- 
phasize as we stand to-day beside this empty tomb. 
We here receive conclusive proofs of the divine 
nature of the Redeemer. Proofs enough he gave 
during his lifetime that he was truly the Son of 
God and the Saviour of men. But his words were 
misunderstood, misinterpreted, and rejected. His 
resurrection, however, must convince all candid 
inquirers and at least silence all captious cavilers. 
This effect it seems to have produced when the 
apostles first went forth to declare the mighty fact. 
Christ had himself rested all his claims to be the 
Son of God upon the sublime fact of his resurrec- 
tion. Had he not been truly the Son of God he 
never would have come forth from the tomb of 
Joseph. When challenged to give a proof of his 
claims, he referred to his own resurrection from 
the dead. His resurrection was, therefore, a ful- 
fillment of his own prophecies, as well as the 
working of the greatest of miracles. 

His resurrection is also a proof that his work 
of atonement was accepted by God the Father. 
It was the Father's seal upon the atoning work of 
the Son. Not on the cross, but rather in the 
tomb, did that work reach its completion. In the 
tomb the great battle was fully fought and the 
sublime victory gloriously won. Then it was that 
the Son of David was declared with power to be 



THE EMPTY TOMB 293 

the Son of God. Then it was that the foundation 
of Christ's reign among men was laid. Other 
founders of religions lived and died, but Christ is 
the only founder of a religion who came forth 
from the grave. His resurrection is the unique 
fact in our holy faith ; it is the divine proof of its 
absolute certainty. It carries with it all the facts 
of his birth, his life, his death. His resurrection 
has justly been called " God's amen and the halle- 
lujah of humanity." It gives us a striking proof 
of his divinity. To this crowning miracle the 
teachers of Christianity constantly appealed ; to 
be the witnesses of his resurrection was one of 
the objects for which the apostles were appointed. 
In his great sermon on the day of Pentecost, the 
Apostle Peter affirms, '* This Jesus hath God raised 
up whereof we all are witnesses." Paul, address- 
ing the men of Athens, affirms that, '' He hath 
given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised 
him from the dead." To this same miracle the 
teachers of Christianity may now refer as proof of 
its supernatural claims. It is the keystone in the 
arch of our faith. If it be true, all other affirma- 
tions of that faith may be easily proved. 

The doctrine of the resurrection also accounts 
for the existence of the church. We know that 
the Christian faith has transformed the world ; but 
we cannot account for the Christian church, ex- 
cept we admit the resurrection of the Lord. 
Were the first teachers of this new faith deceiv- 
ers ? Who dares so affirm .? Were they deceived ? 



294 THE EMPTY TOMB 

Who can so believe ? Deny the resurrection and 
you cannot account for the church. This fact 
any man may safely affirm in the presence of any 
student of history. You may safely challenge any 
man who denies the resurrection of Christ to 
account for the existence of the church. No 
sensible man will accept the challenge. Nothing 
is more logical or sublime than the Apostle Paul's 
reasoning in i Cor. 15, when he says that "if 
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, 
and your faith is also vain." But he gloriously 
affirms that Christ is risen, and he exults in the 
fact that our faith is not vain. 

One other and more personal lesson we may 
learn as we stand beside this empty grave. Christ's 
resurrection is a prophecy and proof of our resurrec- 
tion. He is the only one instance of a complete 
victory over death in his own person. He met death 
in his own domain, and won in that dark territory 
his glorious victory. Hitherto death was an inexor- 
able tyrant, never bribed by tears and never melted 
by beauty. He struck his deadly blow and hu- 
manity fell before his power. Enoch and Elijah 
really won no victory over death, for they never 
really grappled with this foe. They were trans- 
lated without meeting him on the field of conflict. 
There is proof that the ruler's daughter, the wid- 
ow's son, and Lazarus, were rescued for a time 
from the power of death ; but death afterward 
claimed them for his own. Christ alone of woman 
born, ever grappled with the mighty wrestler death, 



THE EMPTY TOMB 295 

and overcame him in his own dark domain. Death 
never before had such a visitant in his silent realms. 
Jesus wrenched the sceptre of empire from his 
hand, and took the crown of dominion from his 
brow. Jesus won a full and final victory leaving 
the sepulchre that morning to return no more for- 
ever. Nothing but that empty tomb remained to 
tell that once the Son of God slept on this rocky 
bed. 

We thus have a sweetly personal interest in this 
victory. Christ won it not for himself alone. As 
he died for us, so he rose for us. Our resurrec- 
tion depends upon his. Fast as the grave seems 
now to shut in our beloved, it is doomed to relax 
its grasp. When men say that the scientific ob- 
jections are such that they cannot believe in the 
doctrine of the resurrection, we have simply to ask 
them. Did Jesus rise ? This is a question of fact. 
Is it true ? There are, all admit, difficulties in the 
doctrine of our resurrection. They are inexpli- 
cable ; but were there not also difficulties in the 
resurrection of Christ } The difficulties in the case 
of a general resurrection are not greater, from a 
strictly scientific point of view, than those in the 
case of the resurrection of Jesus. To believe that 
he died and rose again is scientifically as difficult 
as to believe that we die and may rise again. He 
who denies that the dead can rise must also deny 
that Christ did rise. ''But now is Christ risen." 
Then we too may arise. Empty as was Joseph's 
tomb, so empty shall all the tombs of the world be 



296 THE EMPTY TOMB 

when the archangel's trump shall sound. All hail, 
then, thou risen Jesus ! Thou art he who once 
was dead, but who now liveth forevermore. At 
thy girdle are the keys of death and hell. March 
forward, thou mighty Conqueror, in thy sublime 
victory ! Let all the bells of heaven ring on this 
glad Easter morning. With Christ we bear the 
cross ; with him we shall be buried in the grave ; 
with him we shall rise in triumph ; and with him 
we shall sit on the throne to die no more but to 
rejoice forever in the triumphs thou hast won — 
thou Christ of God, blessed forevermore. 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 



And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were 
all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came 
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it 
filled all the house where they were sitting. — Acts 2 : 1-4. 



XIX 

WE to-day celebrate with appropriate services 
what is known in some churches as Whit- 
sunday. It is well known that this name refers to 
the white garments worn by candidates for bap- 
tism, or worn by those who had been recently 
baptized. It is a festival of the church in com- 
memoration of the descent of the Holy Ghost on 
the day of Pentecost. Although not observed very 
early in the church, it came to be one of the most 
prominent of all the sacred feasts. In the early 
church, in some instances, the entire period from 
Easter to Pentecost was observed as a joyous occa- 
sion. It was a time of thanksgiving, because of 
the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God. 
In some portions of the church this period was 
considered as a continuous Sunday. It was also 
marked by an absence of fasting, and of kneeling 
at all the public prayers. It was considered a 
time of holy jubilation. 

We must not allow ourselves to suppose that 
the Holy Spirit was not in the world until this 
Pentecost. From the very beginning of creation 
the Spirit was active, both in the creation of the 
universe and in the re-creation of men. But when 
Pentecost was fully come the Spirit came with 
greater fullness of life than ever before. He has 

299 



300 THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

dwelt in the church ever since. This is, in a 
special sense, the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. 
Christ promised to send another Comforter, as one 
of his ascension gifts. The work of God the 
Father was especially marked previous to the in- 
carnation of the Son. The work of God the Son 
continues now at the right hand of God since his 
ascension and enthronement, and the work of God 
the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, marked a 
new era in the divine manifestation and economy. 
There is in the divine plan a fullness of time for 
the manifestation of each person in the blessed 
Trinity. 

The day of Pentecost is the beginning of the 
second period in the New Testament dispensation. 
We speak of Christmas as the birthday of the 
Lord ; we may speak of Pentecost as the birthday 
of his church. As the birthday of Christ was pro- 
claimed by angelic voices chanting his praises, so 
the birthday of the church was proclaimed by 
human voices chanting his praises in the various 
tongues of earth. Christmas marked the incarna- 
tion of the Son ; and Pentecost the incarnation of 
the Spirit. Ever since believers have been his 
temple. 

I. In the study of this subject it is well for us, 
in the first place, to emphasize the time of the 
Spirit's coming. We have every reason to believe 
that the Spirit came on the first day of the week. 
Honor was thus for the second time done to this 
day. Not only did it mark the resurrection of our 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 3OI 

Lord but also his enthronement at the right hand 
of the Father. The first day of the week is 
therefore a standing memorial of the resurrection 
of Christ and of the descent of the Spirit. These 
two considerations give additional dignity and glory 
to it as the Lord's Day. We have not given the 
day sufficient honor as a memorial of the coming 
of the Spirit. Whitsunday as well as Easter Day 
should stimulate the gratitude and evoke the 
praises of all God's devout children. As the one 
day commemorates Christ's birth from the tomb, 
so the other commemorates the birth of the church, 
and marks an era in the history of redemption. If 
Christian people would observe the Lord's Day 
with reference to these two great truths the day 
would have increased dignity, solemnity, and ten- 
derness in their thoughts. Let us honor it as trfeT"^ 
time of the birth of the church, which next to the/ 
birth and resurrection of Christ is the greatestf 
event in the history of our race. 

The Spirit came also when God's children were 
met for prayer. This circumstance also is worthy 
of an emphasis which it seldom receives. It is 
true that some have reckoned so as to make this 
Pentecost fall on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. 
But all the Christian traditions point to Sunday as 
the day, and all the Christian observances of the 
day, as far back as they can be traced, lead to the 
same conclusion. When we turn to the fourteenth 
verse of the preceding chapter, we see that all who 
were named were with one accord in prayer and 



302 THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

supplication, Mary the mother of Jesus being one 
of the number. On some former occasions there 
had been jealousies and envyings among the dis- 
ciples ; but these are now entirely gone. There are 
now no schisms, no opposing interests, no discord- 
ant ambitions. There is here a beautiful picture 
of earnest devotion and of united supplication. 
Mary the mother of Jesus has cast in her lot with 
the apostles and is also a suppliant at the feet of 
her divine Son and Lord. We have here one of 
the finest examples of earnest prayer which the 
word of God anywhere gives us. The disciples 
had followed their Master to the eastern declivity 
of the mount of Olives. While the words "to the 
uttermost part of the earth " are on his lips he is 
parted from them. They steadily watch him as 
with uplifted hands he pronounces his blessing, and 
then they see him moving sublimely upward, all the 
laws of gravitation submitting to his higher au- 
Vthority. The everlasting doors lift up their heads 
and the King of glory triumphantly enters. Within 
the veil he receives the worship which is his due, 
and on the earth his disciples lift up their prayers 
and praises in his name. This was a wonderful 
experience even for the disciples. They now un- 
derstand what he meant when he said, "Whatso- 
ever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will 
give it you." During the forty days he spent upon 
the earth he opened to them the Scriptures ; they 
now saw as never before what his death meant, 
and that there was to be no more temple and no 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 303 

more altar. Perhaps they expected that the Spirit 
would come almost immediately upon the Lord's 
departure ; but day after day passes until a week 
is gone. ''Not many days," said the Master, and 
so they wait and pray and pray and wait. 

Never had such prayers ascended from earth to 
heaven as these. Eight days are gone ; ten days 
are gone ! Is the promise to be broken ? What 
did Christ mean when he said, '' Tarry ye in the 
city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power 
from on high " .? But God's children never wait 
and never pray in vain. The promise is near the 
fulfillment ; the day of Pentecost is dawning ; the 
longing of their hearts will be fully met. There 
is some work for them during the interval of ten 
days between the ascension of Christ and the effu- 
sion of the Spirit. An apostle is to be elected in 
the room of Judas who had fallen. This work 
done, they continue to wait for the Spirit as they 
who wait for the morning. They are sure of his 
coming, but they will not relax their earnest prayers 
and will not cease their continuous waiting. Per- 
severing prayer and unity of purpose are divinely 
appointed means for opening the heavens. Through 
the cloud, which shut out the ascending Lord from 
the strained eyes of the disciples, the incense of 
prayer may rise and the dews of blessing may fall. 
Thus they wait and thus they pray. 
• The chief note of time, however, for the coming 
of the Spirit is that the day of Pentecost was fully 
come. We know that the word Pentecost literally 



304 THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

means the fiftieth of something ; but the Greek 
adjective finally came to be used as a substantive 
and is so used in this connection. It was applied 
to the festival which occurred fifty days after the 
Passover. We know that this feast was also called 
** the feast of weeks," and " the feast of harvest, or 
first-fruits." Nothing could be more important 
than that the Spirit should descend on the occa- 
sion of the historic feast. According to the Jew- 
1 ish tradition, as we learn from Maimonides, this 
I feast commemorated the giving of the law on 
(j Mount Sinai, which event occurred on the fiftieth 
I day after the departure of Israel from Egypt. It 
\ was the fiftieth day after the sixteenth of Nisan, 
land was believed to be the very day on which the 
law was given on Mount Sinai. Pentecost was 
one of the three yearly feasts prescribed in the 
Mosaic law. The selection of these three periods 
was not arbitrary, but in strict harmony with na- 
tional events and with the changing seasons. 
Nothing could be more beautiful than the connec- 
tion between the descent of the Spirit and the cru- 
cifixion of Christ on the one hand, and the relation 
between the feast of the Passover and the feast of 
/Pentecost on the other hand. Fifty days after the 
paschal lamb was slain God came in fire and flame 
on Mount Sinai inaugurating a new dispensation, 
and fifty days after the true Paschal Lamb was 
slain God came again in fire and flame and inaug- 
urated the dispensation of the Spirit. It is impos- 
sible to fail to see the connection between these 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 305 

symbolic events of the olden time and the deeply 
spiritual experiences of these apostolic days. At 
the first Pentecost the law was given on tables of 
stone ; at the last Pentecost the Spirit came to, 
write that law on the hearts of the disciples. 

2. Let us observe, in the second place, the man- 
ner of the Spirit's coming. It was to be expected 
that so great an event as the inauguration of a new 
spiritual dispensation, that so sublime an occur-l 
rence as the special manifestation of the third' 
person in the Trinity, should be preceded and ac- 
companied by sensible and audible phenomena. 
We are not, therefore, surprised to know that 
''suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of 
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
where they were sitting." This was an extraordi- 
nary sound. It came suddenly ; it came from 
heaven. This expression Intimates that .it was not 
the result of any natural influence ; it may suggest 
also the origin of the sound, that it descended as 
if from God. It is to be observed that this was 
not a rushing mighty mind, but simply that it gave 
forth a sound that could best be represented by 
this description. There seems to have been no 
gale sweeping over the city, no wind that violently 
struck the sides of the building or that swept furi- 
ously through the street. The sound fell directly 
downward, without cause or presence or move- 
ment to explain its existence. ItLcame like mighty 
showers in a dead calm and from a cloudless sky. 
God was pleased to give two witnesses to the de- 

u 



306 THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

scent of the Spirit, one appealing to the sense of 
hearing, this strange sound ; the other appealing 
to the sense of sight, the tongues of flame. We 
stand in awe of this mysterious sound. Whence 
came it ? What means it ? Is it not the Lord 
breathing upon his people ? Was not this a super- 
natural sign of the divine presence ? Was not this 
invisible witness mightily testifying to the presence 
of the Holy Ghost ? Was not this sound emblem- 
atic of the mighty power of the divine Spirit ? 
May we not well imagine that the head of each 
disciple bowed reverently as this strange sound 
was heard? Who among them could resist the 
conviction that the mighty Spirit of the living God 
was breathed upon them in fullness of blessing 
and in the majesty of God himself? 

We are not surprised to learn that this sound 
filled all the place where they were sitting. We 
are to refer this expression to the sound rather 
than to the wind, for it is not even affirmed that 
there was any wind blowing. Far more terrific 
than a tempest was this windless sound. A sound 
of wind when no wind was blowing might well fill 
every soul with holy awe. We are to believe that 
\hey were meeting in a private dwelling rather 
t\ian in any part of the temple. This sound was 
symbolic of the presence of the all-pervading Spirit. 
Cyril of Jerusalem has said, " For as he who sinks 
down into the waters and is baptized and is sur- 
rounded on all sides by the waters, so also they 
were completely baptized by Spirit." Oh, mys- 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 307 

terious and blessed baptism ! Now the disciples 
were receiving the divine enduement of power for 
which they were to tarry in Jerusalem . Now they 
will go forth with irresistible power to declare the 
story of redeeming love. Only as men are endued 
with power from on high can they so declare the 
glorious gospel that Christ shall be honored and 
souls shall be redeemed. 

The visible sign of the Spirit's presence was 
" cloven tongues like as of fire." The word trans- 
lated cloven is more correctly rendered by the 
word ''distributed." Painters have represented 
these tongues as divided into two or more portions ; 
the form of the pope's cap was derived from an in- 
correct interpretation of this passage. The tongues! 
were not themselves cloven, but each tongue wa^' 
separated from a mass of seeming flame. Flames 
naturally assume the form of tongues, and so we 
have the expression, common in many literatures, 
''a lambent flame." These tongues were not of 
fire, but were "like as of fire"; they possessed 
the brightness without the burning of fire. One 
of the tongues sat on each of those present. We 
know that fire has ever been regarded as a striking 
emblem of deity. Thus God is said to have re- 
vealed himself to Moses in the bush which burned, 
but was not consumed ; thus on Mount Sinai God 
descended in the midst of thunder, lightning, smoke, 
and fire, striking emblems of his presence and 
power ; thus startlingly God is described as " Con- 
suming Fire." We are familiar also with the fact 



308 THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

that the most famous classic writers frequently 
represent their deities by fire and flame in various 
forms. It was especially fitting that the Holy 
Spirit should be so represented. The prediction 
of John the Baptist was, *' He shall baptize with 
the Holy Ghost and with fire." The purity and 
the purifying power of the Spirit were thus strik- 
ingly set forth. 

We cannot, however, fail to observe the special 
form of this flame. It might naturally assume the 
form of a tongue ; and frequently reference is 
made to "the tongue of fire," suggesting the thin, 
long, narrow point which flames naturally assume. 
But in this instance we are warranted in seeing a 
degree of significance in the tongue-like form of 
the flame. Not a shapeless flame is here presented 
to our view, not Abraham's lamp, nor the coal of 
Isaiah, but a tongue comes before us. Over the 
head of each one of that honored group rests a 
tongue of flame. There is a sense in which the 
tongue was to be the symbol of the dispensation 
now inaugurated. Any form of fire would have 
suggested the presence of God, but its particular 
form taught an additional truth. Well has William 
Arthur said, *' Christianity was to be a tongue of 
^re." Not by the printed page, mighty as it may 
e for good and for God, but by the living voice 
f the living preacher is the glorious gospel to be 
jiroclaimed. A tongue set on fire of the Holy 
(ixhost is a power neither man nor devil can resist. 
The tongue, when consecrated to God, is the 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 3O9 

mightiest and most glorious instrument for good 
which the world has ever known. - It is the power 
which has confounded enemies, which has confron- 
ted learned councils, and which has silenced oppos- 
ing hosts of every kind ; this is the power which is 
to-day girdling the world with the blessed story of 
redeeming love. Oh, that the Lord God Almighty 
would consecrate to his service, by the touch of 
his mighty love, the tongue of eloquence in every 
language and country ! 

3. We are also called upon, in the third place, to 
notice the results of the Spirit's coming so far as 
set forth in the text. Those who were present — 
and the number is certainly not limited to the 
apostles, nor perhaps to the one hundred and 
twenty — <*were all filled with the Holy Ghost." 
Up to this time the Spirit had come to men in 
smaller measures, had come simply as foretastes 
of this larger blessing. Now the children of God 
were entirely under the influence and power of 
the Spirit of God. To be filled with anything is 
a scriptural phrase implying that all the faculties 
are pervaded by it or under its control. Our at- 
tention was previously called to the external evi- 
dences of the divine presence, but now to the in- 
ternal. The Spirit was now present in fullness. 
He pervaded the whole being of those upon whom 
he came. He imparted to them extraordinary 
powers of many kinds. Under the old dispensa- 
tion he was given only to chosen leaders, or to 
skilled workmen, or to such honored servants as 



3IO THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

Elisabeth, Zacharias, and John the Baptist. There 
were special and transient occasions on which we 
hear of persons being filled with the Holy Ghost. 
Now he is to be the permanent indweller in God's 
people. His abiding presence is their joyful privi- 
lege. Previous to this the apostles had enjoyed 
only the ordinary influence of the Spirit, but now 
his indwelling in the largest measure. Now God's 
Spirit is put into all his people. In the early day 
the Spirit of God strove with men both before 
and after the flood ; but it was only when the Son 
of God came to earth that the Spirit of God re- 
turned to earth in fullness. In the second Adam 
he dwelt without measure, and now he sends down 
the Spirit to dwell in this larger form with the dis- 
ciples whom he left upon the earth. As vessels 
jthey were long prepared for this infilling, and when 
the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost these pre- 
pared vessels were filled to overflowing. 

We read also that they " began to speak with 
other tongues." How can we explain so wonder- 
ful an event .-^ There have been many attempts 
made to deny or to modify this miracle. Some 
have said that the miracle was not in the speaking 
of the apostles, but in the hearing of the people ; 
but this cannot be, as the use of the tongues was 
manifested before the hearers were met together. 
Nothing can be more certain from what follows 
than that these disciples actually spoke with other 
tongues. We know that they did not merely speak 
in different dialects of the Greek language, for the 



THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 3 I I 

people were met from many lands and were of 
many tongues. We here see that the disaster of 
Babel was more than remedied by the blessings 
of Pentecost. Sin separated man from God and 
man from man. Salvation comes to unite men to 
one another and all men to God. Pentecost is .the 
divine remedy for Babel. The native tongue of 
many of the people was the barbarous dialect of 
Galilee. Some indeed were acquainted with Greek 
and Latin ; but there is no reason to think that 
any were acquainted with the divers languages 
represented on this occasion. The natural mean- 
ing of the passage is that these disciples were 
endued by the power of the Holy Ghost to speak 
foreign languages. This ability was predicted in 
the Old Testament ; it was also promised by the 
Lord Jesus when he commissioned his disciples. 
It was vastly important on this occasion that the 
gospel should be proclaimed in the languages of 
those present at this feast. We do not, however, 
suppose that the disciples used this miraculous 
gift in their ordinary work. The Greek tongue 
was so general throughout the Roman Empire that 
they could ordinarily use it in their preaching ; but 
the ability to speak in various languages ministered 
marvelously to the rapid spread of the gospel at 
the Pentecostal feast. The ability to speak in 
these varied tongues on this occasion carried the 
gospel to more people than could have been 
reached by the ordinary ministrations of the word 
for a series of years. Pentecost was a great hill- 



312 THE FULFILLED PENTECOST 

top, and kindling the light thereon it shone out 
across many lands and for the illumination of 
many peoples. It is glorious that these first dis- 
ciples were thus able to speak as the Spirit gave 
them utterance, glorious that each man could hear 
the gospel in the language in which he was born. 
It is still the duty of the church to give the gos- 
pel to all peoples, not only in the tongues of the 
learned, but in the language of daily speech and 
of the common people. Oh, for the pentecostal 
baptism ! Oh, for the tongue of fire ! Oh, for 
the conscious power of the Spirit as the culmina- 
tion of the hopes of the past, and as the prophecy 
of a glorious Pentecost as the nineteenth century 
\ closes and the twentieth century dawns ! 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 



He shall dwell on high ; his place of defence shall be the 
munitions of rocks ; bread shall be given him ; his waters 
shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the Ki7ig in his beauty ; 
they shall behold the land that is very far off. — Isa. jj : i6. 



XX 



TRUE believers need oftener to contemplate 
their happy conditions and their bright 
prospects. They live on too low a plain ; they 
forget their exalted position as heirs of God and 
joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. They need to be 
reminded of the contrast between themselves and 
*' the sinners in Zion," even in the world that now 
is, and especially so as they contemplate the world 
beyond. In the fourteenth verse of this chapter 
we are reminded that " the sinners in Zion " are 
afraid, and that the hypocrites are filled with 
alarm. This fear and alarm were produced by a 
view of the judgment of God on the army of 
Sennacherib when, in a single night by the blow 
of the ■ Almighty, one hundred and eighty-five 
thousand men were slain. How then could that 
wrath be borne forever } In the fifteenth verse 
the prophet presents to us a suggestive contrast 
between the confidence of the righteous and the 
fearfulness of the wicked. He also gives us some 
striking characteristics of the righteous man. He 
lives righteously ; he speaketh uprightly ; his words 
and acts are in perfect harmony with one another. 
He is not false, slanderous, or impure in speech. 
Another mark which he bears is his abhorrence of 
the gain of false dealing in business. Still an- 

315 



3l6 THE BEATIFIC VISION 

Other is that as a magistrate he will not stretch 
out his hands for bribes, but will adjudge all causes 
according to inherent justice. Still another is 
that he will not willingly listen to proposals to 
commit violence of any sort, and will even shut 
his eyes from beholding the committal of violence 
by others. In a word, he keeps himself from all 
iniquity, lives a manly, honest, and godly life. 

We then have in the text a statement of God's 
regard for men who live righteous lives, as those 
lives are set before us in the fifteenth verse. It 
is a matter of great interest to know how God 
regards such men. Is he indifferent to them ? 
Does he treat them otherwise than as he treats 
*'the sinners in Zion".? Many Christian men and 
women at times feel that there is no profit in serv- 
ing God. They see the righteous in business 
troubles, in family bereavements, and in physical 
sufferings. Wicked men often spread themselves 
as green bay trees ; and it seems sometimes, as if 
all that they do prospers. The psalmist was 
carried away for a time by that thought ; and his 
experience is that of many conscientious Chris- 
tians in our own day. But the psalmist saw that 
the time came when the wicked passed away and 
could not be found. He saw the transgressors 
destroyed together, and then he learned not to 
fret because of evil-doers. He sweetly experienced 
also the fact that those who wait upon the Lord 
shall inherit the earth. This lesson is beautifully 
brought out in our text and its context. 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 317 

I . In studying this text we have, in the first 
place, the believer's position — " he shall dwell on 
high." Here it is affirmed that the righteous man 
shall dwell on heights which were usually safe 
places, as they were inaccessible to the enemy. 
A truly godly man has his dwelling on a lofty 
cliff, and on the immovable rock. The enemy 
cannot reach him, however bitter that enemy may 
be. The true believer is hid in the time of trouble 
in God's pavilion, in the secret of God's taber- 
nacle. He is set up on a rock ; God takes him 
into closest communion and sweetest fellowship 
with himself. God admits him into his own por- 
tion of the sacred dwelling, as a man would pro- 
tect his children in his own home. God will not 
permit him to remain in the vestibule, or the open 
court, of his palace, but will take him into his 
private apartments, where no stranger may intrude. 
God covers his head in the day of battle, and his 
heart in the hour of fierce temptation. True be- 
lievers literally occupy a high place. They are 
men of mark. They are set on a hill and cannot 
be hid. Ten thousand men read their life for 
every one who reads the Bible. A true Christian 
is God's best representative in the world. The 
world will judge God's character by the conduct 
and character of God's children. The world 
judges us by our children ; not less, but in har- 
mony with the same law, does the world judge 
God by his children. This truth places upon 
Christian men and women a solemn responsibility 



3l8 THE BEATIFIC VISION 

and crowns them with unspeakable dignity and 
glory. 

The believer's position is a high one, when we 
consider his peculiar blessings. He is in the 
world, but not of it ; he is passing through it to 
fairer and nobler worlds on high. He is God's 
beloved among the children of men. His name 
is written on the palms of God's hands, so that 
when the hand is open God sees the name, and 
when the hand is closed God protects his child. 
Young was right when he said, *<A Christian is 
the highest style of man." The Scriptures repre- 
sent him as flourishing like the palm tree, as grow- 
ing like a cedar in Lebanon, and as fat and flour- 
ishing even in old age. If Christians fully under- 
stood the glory which they have in possession, and 
the greater glory which they have in promise, they 
would be unable to conceal their joy as they walk 
among men. Their faces would ever smile, their 
eyes ever sparkle, and the glory of the celestial 
city would flood their path with its heavenly light. 
There is a real sense in which we may say, with 
becoming humility, but with literal truth, that 
every Christian is, in his measure, Christ to the 
world. He shows more of the character of God 
than any other being this side the throne of God. 
He has to do with the affairs of this world, for he 
is a man among men ; but he is conscious of his 
inherent dignity and of his inherited honor. He 
asks no favors of men because he is a Christian. 
He does not abandon the world because he is a 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 319 

Christian ; to abandon the world is a coward's act. 
He does not yield to the world ; to yield to the 
world is a traitor's part. He overcomes the world ; 
to overcome the world is a true Christian's part. 
Others may be satisfied with the dross of earth, 
but the Christian wants the gold of heaven ; others 
may be satisfied to look downward, but the Chris- 
tian looks upward, onward, heavenward, Godward. 
God is his father and heaven is his home. 

2. We observe, in the second place, the believ- 
er's /r^/^^//^;2 — '* His place of defence shall be the 
munitions of rocks." Literally translated we 
should have the expression, ''the strongholds of 
the rocks shall be his fortress." These are stir- 
ring words. The strongholds of the rocks were 
often the fortress for David and other heroic He- 
brews in the time of civil strife and foreign inva- 
sion. "The clefts of the rocks, and the tops of 
the ragged rocks," were often the home of brave 
patriots in Palestine and in many other lands. In 
the Highlands of Scotland and among the rugged 
rocks of Spain courageous defenders remained un- 
conquered and unconquerable notwithstanding the 
fiercest onsets of the most formidable foes. Rocks 
have occupied a prominent place in the history of 
the church. Here brave Covenanters found a 
refuge when hunted by Claverhouse and his fierce 
dragoons. Often the valleys of Scotland were 
holy cathedrals, echoing the voices of heroes and 
martyrs as they sang the psalms of David, ex- 
horted the people, and prayed to God for strength 



320 THE BEATIFIC VISION 

in their hours of trial. The world will never for- 
get the men who thus risked life and all that made 
life dear rather than be disloyal to conscience and 
to God. The church will always be grateful that 
God sometimes wrapped the mists and the clouds 
of those rugged hills around his saints to hide them 
from their Satanic foes. They found it to be 
literally true that their place of defense was the 
munitions of rocks. 

Believers may find it equally true even to this 
day. All God's attributes are strongholds for his 
children. His omnipotence, omnipresence, benev- 
olence, justice, and holiness, are places of defense 
to his penitent, trustful, and obedient children. 
The elements in God's character which give alarm 
to the sinners in Zion and to the fearful hypocrites, 
are sources of comfort to his loving and loyal chil- 
dren. We read in Prov. i8 : lo, "The name of 
the Lord is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth 
into it and is safe." God is a sanctuary to the 
righteous when they are pursued by their foes. 
All his titles and attributes, and all his covenants 
and promises, constitute a tower, impenetrable, im- 
pregnable, and invincible. All his saints know 
that their security is in their God. May God help 
us to find in him, now and always, our sure protec- 
tion from all our enemies ! 

3. In the third place, we notice the believer's 
provision — *' bread shall be given him, his waters 
shall be sure." This promise has been literally 
fulfilled in the case of the majority of God's 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 321 



people. Religion is the friend of industry and 
every other virtue. It opposes laziness, extrava- 
gance, and every other vice. It creates and fos- 
ters sobriety, economy, and capacity. Nothing is 
more certain than that religion ''is not a vain 
thing for you, because it is your life." Nothing 
is more certain than that " Godliness is profitable 
unto all things, having promise of the life that now 
is, and of that which is to come." Godliness is 
profitable for the development of the intellect and 
for the management of business enterprises, as 
well as for the culture of the heart and the prep- 
aration for the life to come. Except in special 
cases — regarding which we think and speak with 
tenderness and sympathy — poverty is suggestive 
of indolence, extravagance, or incapacity. A 
Christian may not fare sumptuously every day ; he 
may not wear purple and fine linen, but the prom- 
ises of God are that verily he shall be fed. True 
spirituality is helpful in the development of charac- 
ter and in the conduct of affairs in every relation 
in life. The psalmist was able to say, after a long 
and varied experience — an experience of mingled 
disappointment and achievement, sorrow and joy — 
''The steps of a good man are ordered by the 
Lord ; and he delighteth in his way. I have been 
young and am now old ; yet have I not seen the 
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." 

God is equally the source of all supply for our 
spiritual wants. He is the fountain of all life and 
light. Christ has called himself the Bread of 



322 THE BEATIFIC VISION 

Heaven, and the Water of Life. Apart from God 
there is no true source of supply for the wants of 
the soul. Men who refuse to eat of this spiritual 
food starve their souls in the life that now is, and 
utterly destroy them for the life that is to come. 
It is unspeakably sad that they will strive to feed 
upon the husks which are simply the food of 
swine, and will refuse the bread of heaven of 
which angels eat. God's supply of temporal mer- 
cies is but the suggestion of our need and his sup- 
ply of spiritual life. The new-born soul desires 
the sincere milk of the word, that it may grow 
thereby. It afterward hungers for the bread of 
heaven, the strong meat of faith, and the water 
of life. The soul can no more live and thrive 
without spiritual food than can the body without 
natural food. God has promised to give us our 
spiritual meat in due season, as truly as our daily 
bread. His grace will be sufficient for us in every 
hour of need, however great that need may be. 
He gives us his holy word to be the guide of our 
lives and the food of our souls. He gives us the 
communications of his Spirit that we may under- 
stand the teachings of the divine word and apply 
them aright to our spiritual necessities. Nothing 
is more certain than that he will give us strength 
according to our day ; than that he will strengthen 
us with might in the inner man ; than that he will 
sustain us in our spiritual conflicts and bring us off 
at the last more than victorious over all our spir- 
itual foes. 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 323 

4. We have, in the last place, the believer's 
prospection — "thine eyes shall see the King in 
his beauty ; they shall behold the land that is 
very far off." I use the word prospection rather 
than prospect ; the idea intended to be taught in- 
cludes the outward view and the inward apprecia- 
tion of the external prospect. Some suppose that 
the reference here is to the Assyrian king, and 
that he should be seen at the walls of Jerusalem — 
that is to say, that he should be overthrown. 
Others believe that primarily the reference may be 
to Hezekiah. The sense then would be that the 
people should be defended from the army of the 
Assyrian foe ; that they should be permitted to 
live during the peaceful and prosperous reign of 
their own king ; that they should look to the re- 
motest part of the land of Judea as delivered 
from their enemies and under the control of their 
own sovereign ; that they should not be confined 
within the walls of Jerusalem, but the empire of 
their king should extend over a wide dominion, 
and they should occupy as their own the territory 
now under the control of the Assyrians. But, al- 
though the primary reference may be to Hezekiah, 
we are warranted in saying that a greater than 
Hezekiah is here, and that a more goodly land 
than the land of Canaan is spread out to our gaze. 
The true King in his beauty is the King of kings 
and the Lord of lords ; the true land that is afar 
off is the land of the heavenly Canaan with its 
unbroken peace, its undimmed light, and its unin- 



324 THE BEATIFIC VISION 

terrupted joy. The believer is permitted at times 
to look out on that goodly land. Just as the spies 
brought back from the land of Canaan the rich 
clusters of Eshcol, indicative of the abundant 
fruits which there grew, so to us now are brought 
the fruits of paradise in precious promises and in 
blessed realizations. The believer has much in 
possession, but he has vastly more in prospect. 
He stands at times as Moses stood, and looks out 
on the magnificent prospect whose glories blind 
the gaze, whose beauties intoxicate the soul, and 
whose blessedness no language can describe. But 
unlike Moses, he will cross the river and enter the 
goodly land. We cannot think of the inhabitants 
of heaven as idling by its purling streams and in 
the enjoyment of its balmy airs. We think of 
heaven as a place of ceaseless, but tireless activ- 
ity. Shall not David there strike his harp to 
sweeter songs than he ever sang on earth } Shall 
not Isaiah speak of the glory and majesty of God 
in nobler words and loftier strains than marked 
his divinest earthly prophecies ? Shall not Paul 
there glow with a holy enthusiasm compared with 
which his highest earthly visions were cold and 
dark ? Shall not ten thousand godly martyrs, 
preachers, philosophers, poets, scientists, and un- 
lettered saints, there rise to heights of achieve- 
ment and possibility such as no language can now 
express and no thought now conceive. Even here, 
as the Apostle John hath said, " Now are we the 
sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 325 

shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear, 
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 
We could not endure the sight of the glory that 
awaits us as the heirs of God. There we shall 
shine like stars, there we shall flash like suns, 
there we shall be like Christ, for we shall see him 
as he is. God be thanked for the glimpse we now 
get of that city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God — a city never weary 
with burdens nor hoary with years ; a city without 
trials or tears ; a city without foes or fears ; a city 
without sins or sorrows ; a city without deaths 
or dirges ; a city without griefs or graves ; a city 
whose walls are salvation and whose gates are 
praise. What manner of men and women ought 
we to be who are the children of God and heirs 
to glory so unspeakable ? Away with the attrac- 
tions of this world ! Away with the fascinations 
of its honors, its riches, and its glories ! These 
may captivate the children of earth, but they are 
powerless to attract the children of the King in 
his beauty and the heirs of the land which is 
-afar off." 

Are we to-day numbered among the righteous ? 
Do we possess the characteristics enumerated in 
the verses preceding my text ? Have we known 
Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour ? 
Have we robed ourselves in the spotless garments 
of his righteousness ? Are our lives hid with 
Christ in God .? If we truly are his, then where 
he is there we shall surely be, and the glory of his 



326 THE BEATIFIC VISION 

splendor shall be ours, world without end. For 
assuredly his own tender, yearning prayer regard- 
ing his people shall be sweetly fulfilled : '' Father, 
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be 
with me where I am ; that they may behold my 
glory which thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst 
me before the foundation of the world." 

This prayer is tender and beautiful in the ex- 
treme. Our Lord clearly implies that his own 
happiness would not be complete until his saints 
were with him in glory. It was foretold of him 
that, *' He shall see of the travail of his soul and 
shall be satisfied." The psalm regarding himself, 
says, " I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy 
likeness." Christ's satisfaction consists in part in 
the presence of his people; and the satisfaction 
of his people consists in awaking in his likeness. 
Each is satisfied with the other ; neither can be 
satisfied without the other. As he looks forward 
to his glorification in heaven, our Lord longs for 
the presence of those whom he"" died to redeem. 
There is wonderful humanness as well as divine- 
ness in this prayer ; indeed the divine and the 
human in the prayer and in the Lord himself mar- 
velously and tenderly blend. He looks forward 
here at once to his exaltation in heaven when his 
work of atonement shall have been completed. 
He looks still farther forward to the time when all 
his redeemed shall be with him in glory. Perhaps 
we do not with suf^cient frequency think of heaven 
and its beatific vision. In health and in the midst 



THE BEATIFIC VISION 32/ 

of present duties our thoughts cling to earth and 
earthly things, but when sickness, disappointment, 
and bereavement come there is wonderful comfort 
and inspiration in the thought of the eternal peace, 
felicity, and blessed companionship of Christ and 
his people in glory. 

This text has cheered and comforted tens of 
thousands of God's people in various periods of 
the world's history. They have rejoiced with joy 
unspeakable as they have realized their exalted 
position as believers in the Lord Jesus. They 
have rested with unquestioning trust in the pro- 
tection which God supplies to his people, to whom 
he is a ''place of defense and the munitions 
of rocks." They have looked into an unknown 
future with unquestioning faith and with joyous 
confidence as they have accepted the divine pro- 
vision, claiming the promise, " bread shall be given 
him, his waters shall be sure." And they have 
rejoiced with a joy that is full of glory, as they 
have in the long vista of the future enjoyed the 
believer's prospection, clinging to the promise, 
" Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty ; 
they shall behold the land that is very far off." 
May that happy realization be ours through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 



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